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Sunshine Foundation Celebrates 50 Years of Dreams!
Sunshine Foundation officially launched its 50th year of making dreams come true for children facing some of life’s most serious challenges.
The celebration continues throughout 2026 as the Foundation reflects on five decades of bringing hope to children living with lifelong, severe, and chronic medical conditions—including level 3 severe autism, Down syndrome, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, severe epilepsy, sickle cell disease, blindness, deafness, and trauma from abuse, among many others.
One Dream that Started a Movement
In the 1960’s and 70’s, Philadelphia police officer Bill Sample was assigned on protective duty to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. He encountered critically ill and chronically ill children, and saw firsthand how these children’s families were burdened, not only by mounting medical bills, but also by the frustration of not being able to provide their child with a special dream. In 1976, Bill took out a personal loan and, with the help of volunteers, started the Sunshine Foundation and began making dreams come true for seriously ill children.
The first child helped was Bobby, a five-year-old boy diagnosed with Leukemia. Bobby’s nurse told Bill that the boy had a dream to go to the mountains to see snow. Bill brought Bobby, his parents, and siblings to the Pocono Mountains in PA for a week of playing in the snow, sledding, and snowmobiling. Not long after, Bobby passed from his battle with Leukemia. Bobby’s mom told us years later that she did not realize at the time how important that dream would be to their family. She said that the trip with Bobby, laughing and playing in the snow, was the happiest moment of their lives, and those memories have lasted a lifetime.
Creating Extraordinary Experiences for Children
Under Bill’s leadership, the Sunshine Foundation grew into the first national wish-granting organization.
Bill established an annual Dreamlift to bring children with severe special needs on a chartered jet to the Magic Kingdom for a day. For twenty-seven years, Bill hosted Progeria Reunions for children from across the globe who lived with the unique challenges of Progeria (Hutchinson-Guilford syndrome). In 1990, Bill Sample’s Sunshine Foundation Dream Village in Florida opened with nine fairy-tale themed cottages, specially equipped to handle the needs of the children who dreamed of visiting the Central Florida theme parks.
44,000 Dreams—and Counting
More than 44,000 children have benefited from the programs and services of the Sunshine Foundation since 1976. Sunshine Foundation is proud to continuously be ranked as the Top-Rated wish-granting organization in the United States serving the terminally ill or chronically ill, according to www.charitywatch.org, and is currently the highest 4-star 100% rated children’s wish-granting charity on www.charitynavigator.org.
To learn more or make a donation, please visit sunshinefoundation.org/our-history/.
Sunshine Foundation answers the dreams of children, ages three through eighteen, who have severe or profound physical/developmental/intellectual challenges or trauma from physical/sexual abuse, and whose families have limited income. Since 1976, Sunshine Foundation has spread Sunshine into the lives of more than 44,007 children.
