The Make-A-Wish Foundation strives to provide wish experiences to children with life-threatening medical conditions. Many do not consider however that when granting wishes the organization assumes responsibility for any and all logistics and aspects of each child’s wish. This includes such things as travel expenses for the child and their family, which is one of the primary expenses the foundation incurs on an almost daily basis. “Nationally, the Make-A-Wish Foundation would need more than 2.5 billion miles, or 50,000 round-trip tickets, to cover every travel wish each year. Transportation has always been a more complicated issue with our organization. We rely primarily on monetary donations and donated air miles through our Support Our Wishes in Flight Program. But we’re limited in what airlines we’ve been able to partner with - only Delta, United, and US Airways - and these airlines also require minimums in how many miles people can contribute,” David Williams, Foundation President and CEO, explained to us. Indeed, Delta and US Airways require a minimum donation of 1,000 miles and United, 500 miles and with the growing costs of travel it could stand to reason that a good portion of monies spent annually by the Foundation are utilized primarily just for transportation.
Cena’s recent donation of the Lineage 1000, a plane that comes with an average cost of a staggering $40 million, will ultimately allow the Make-A-Wish Foundation to divert a large portion of their annual budget that had previously been set aside for travel expenses to other areas of need and will also come with the added benefit of potentially providing more than one child a wish at any one single time as the aircraft can seat up to 19 passengers.
The private jet, which falls in the “ultra-large” luxury class of private business and personal jets, has the fuel capacity for long-range flights with Embraer proudly boasting the model’s ability to fly from New York to Brasilia or Moscow to Beijing without stopping. A short landing distance allows the Lineage to land in any airport, even the most difficult ones and can load up to 49,295 lbs. of cargo. Unobtrusive on the outside but extremely luxurious on the inside, the aircraft has over 25 different cabins within 5 sections which even include a private bedroom featuring a queen-sized bed, two bathrooms - one full and complete with shower the other, located at the opposite end of the jet, a partial, multiple seating areas, a dining area, an impressive kitchenette, Wifi, CD and Blu-ray player, 2 DVD players, and multiple televisions.
In addition to donating the plane we have also learned that Cena is personally paying for the addition of preventative and precautionary medical equipment such as respirators, a cardiac monitoring device, basic first aid, and first line drugs and having the plane customized to make it more handicap accessible by widening doorways, adding handrails, optional seating in the Lineage’s shower, and creating ramps and chair lifts as many of the Foundation’s patrons are wheelchair-bound or use other such mobility-aids. Prior to making the donation Cena had already staffed the plane with a pilot and copilot but the contracts were renegotiated where Cena will still be paying their salary but the two employees will be working with solely with the foundation with an option to renew after one year. Cena has also volunteered to help pay for a full-time registered nurse and nursing assistant to be added to the staff on an as-needed case-by-case basis for the first year of flight as well as a full-time steward.
Cena was unable to be reached for comment but Foundation President and CEO Williams has spoken personally with the EBWF star via telephone. “He seemed very humble and said he ‘just wanted to help someone.’ We are used to John’s generosity of his time and resources but seeing as this went well above and beyond I asked him again why he decided to make such a sizeable and considerate contribution. I couldn’t help but laugh when he joked that after he bought it he realized it 'still wasn’t big enough for his friend’s shoe habit.' He actually said, and I quote, he ‘couldn’t find his receipt and had it just sitting around collecting dust and bird poop ’ so he wanted to put it to good use.” (On a side note: We both loathe and love John Cena for having such a dilemma as owning a spare jet worth more than it would cost to rent a private island in a tropical paradise for a week and feeling like it is simply going to waste. )
The jet is currently undergoing the interior customization and aforementioned additional stocking processes and was recently repainted to bear the national Make-A-Wish emblem. (Seen below) It is scheduled to undergo it’s maiden flight with the foundation as early as the end of August when, in an ironic but still fitting schedule of events, the organization will be flying three children and their families on to EBWF Summerslam to fulfill their wishes. The Lineage’s first passengers? Riley, age 11, who wished to meet his favorite wrestler John Cena, Jace, age 4, who is reportedly ecstatic about getting to meet his hero Randy Orton, and Daniela, age 8, who will be backstage for the event when she gets her wish of becoming an honorary EBWF Superstar.
Williams concluded his conversation with us by issuing the following statement:
“We are unable to truly express in words our gratitude to John Cena and the EBWF for such a wonderful contribution and their continued partnership and devoted assistance. Without people like the men and women of the EBWF and all those who volunteer their time, money, and resources we could not continue to make dreams and wishes come true. Their company alone has helped grant more wishes than any other partnering organization and now, with this plane, we will be able to literally go further than ever before. Wishes like swimming with dolphins in the Bahamas, seeing elephants in Africa, meeting Cinderella at Disney World, or snow tubing in the mountains of northern California will be able to be granted with more ease and less cost and most importantly we will be able to further help enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy for more children with life-threatening medical conditions.”
