April 03, 2020 / By mobanmarket
MIAMI, FL — Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler and “Burn Notice” alum Gabrielle Anwar hit the stage over the weekend to help Make-A-Wish kids dream a little bigger in South Florida.
Anwar, who played former IRA operative Fiona Glenanne on “Burn Notice” and Lady Tremaine in the seventh season of ABC’s “Once Upon a Time,” was the emcee at the 25th annual InterContinental Miami Make-A-Wish Ball Saturday night while Tyler headlined the event in downtown Miami.
It was Anwar’s husband, Shareef Malnik — owner of Miami’s iconic The Forge restaurant —and chairman of this year’s ball — who introduced her to Make-A-Wish. “When I met him he was already very much ingrained in the Make-A-Wish fabric and has lured me in,” Anwar shared in an interview with Patch. “I think I might be here to stay.”
Mermaid For A Day
Anwar said she and her husband have participated in a number of wishes for critically ill children, including one recently.
“We were at a grant for a beautiful little girl who wanted to become a mermaid for a day,” Anwar said, adding the wish was delivered at The Villa Casa Casuarina, which is the former Versace mansion in South beach.
“This adorable child got to play in a pool with a mermaid tail — with two professional mermaids,” Anwar said. “It was really exquisite.”
This year’s ball raised more than $4 million for the charity and is the most important single source of donations for the South Florida chapter.
“With all the money that we bring in this past year we granted 625 wishes which is one of the biggest chapters of Make-A-Wish in the country,” explained Make-A-Wish Southern Florida President and CEO Norman Wedderburn.
“We’ve never turned down a wish child for lack of finances,” he said. “We go find the money and we make it happen. But it’s about timing. How long does the child and the family have to wait to be able to get their wish?”
One of the most challenging wishes the organization granted involved a little girl who dreamed of being a figure skater.
“She had never been on the ice in her life,” Wedderburn recalled. “We had her actually have private lessons with a former Olympic figure skater and then she had her own ceremony. It was spectacular but it was a lot of time and work to make it a very special night for her. She had her own performance with hundreds of people there to see it.”
Cooper Lyric
InterContinental Miami General Manager and gala host Robert Hill said the hotel has donated its facilities and food for all 25 years of the ball, a tradition that began with Hill’s predecessor.
“Every dollar that is made tonight … can go to granting wishes to children with critical illnesses,” he told Patch.
Hill has personally been involved with a number of wishes, including one that he’ll never forget.
“The one special one for me was last year,” he confided.
Brandon, a little boy afflicted with cancer, wanted an Irish golden retriever for his wish. The organization flew one in all the way from Ireland for the child.
“When he was in hospital having the treatments for his cancer … there was a gentleman that used to come to the children’s hospital with his dog and visit the children,” according to Hill. “Brandon said it was those visits that made him brave and gave him the strength to go on with his treatments to overcome his cancer and beat it.”
Hill presented the child with Cooper Lyric, a name Brandon came up with. The child told him that he had a special reason for wanting the animal.
“He wanted to get a dog … so that he could go back to the hospital one day with Cooper Lyric and visit those other children that were battling,” Hill said. “They were scared and they wanted to give up.
“Here’s a child who is 10-years-old and he’s thinking about how he can give back to others because of what he’s just gone through,” Hill explained.
Future Wish
Former child actor and season 10 winner of “The Voice” Alison Porter was already a fan of Make-A-Wish when she took to the stage to perform at the ball for her fourth straight year.
“Hopefully being here, and being a part of this helps obviously grant so many wishes,” she told Patch. She said she looks forward to the day when she can grant a wish of a child who wants to be a recording artist.
“I really think it would be amazing if I could write a song with a wish kid who was an aspiring artist or songwriter and get them in the studio and produce a single for them, take a picture of them, get them all styled — and put it out on iTunes,” said Porter whose latest album is called “Pink Cloud.”
Tyler, who is known for chart-topping hits like “Livin’ On The Edge,” “Walk This Way,” “Janie’s Got a Gun,” “Dream On” and “Crazy” performed “Sweet Emotion” and “Janie’s Got A Gun at the Make-A-Wish event.” He threw in covers from some of his heroes like the Beatles and Led Zeppelin.
“Steven Tyler just loves Make-A-Wish. We had a long conversation about how he felt so positively impacted by wishes that he got to grant as a celebrity,” Wedderburn shared.
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In addition to being a world class performer, Tyler is also a philanthropist who started his own charity, Janie’s Fund, to help abused and neglected girls.
Beautiful To Give Back
Dania Ramirez, who plays a role in the soon-to-be-released “Jumanji: The Next Level,” told Patch she was invited by Anwar to attend the ball. The two met while Ramirez was shooting the ABC series “Once Upon A Time.”
“I had known about the foundation before,” Ramirez explained. “It’s really beautiful to be able to give back the way that they do. I’m here in support of that, and giving back has always been a part of my life.”
Her role in the upcoming release of the next installment of the Jumanji franchise remains somewhat of a mystery.
“It’s a secret. I’m not allowed to say yet,” Ramirez confided. “When you watch it, you’ll be super surprised. It’s very funny. I get a lot of time to work with [Dwayne] “The Rock ” [Johnson] and the gang.”
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told Patch he would be open to participating in a future wish, perhaps for a child who wants to experience what it’s like to be major of a major U.S. city.
“Certainly if they did, we would absolutely grant that wish,” he told Patch.
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