Thanks to Make-A-Wish Hudson Valley, Another Wish Comes True

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Seven (in white chef's jacket) and her family emerge from their stretch limo

April 29, 2024

By Barrett Seaman–

When the Make-A-Wish Foundation grants a wish to a critically ill child, they pull out all the stops. Recently, the Hudson Valley Chapter of this global non-profit learned that a 12-year-old girl named Seven, who suffers from end-stage kidney disease, wished to be a chef.

Done!

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Turning to Sleepy Hollow’s JP Doyle’s restaurant on Beekman Avenue to host a culinary event, Make-A-Wish recruited a team of celebrity taste-testers, including WNBC’s Today in New York Anchor, Darlene Rodriguez, Chef Michael Psilakis from Iron Chef, Glenn Vogt of RiverMarket Bar and Kitchen in Tarrytown, as well as Phelps Hospital Northwell Health Master Chef Andrew Cain and his sous chef Kelly Walker. Also present was former Knicks shooting guard John Starks.

Seven’s parade rumbles down Beekman Avenue

For the occasion, Phelps Hospital supplied hundreds of blue tee shirts for each and every student at the Morse School across the streetand down the block from the restaurant. At midday on Monday, the 29^th, those blue-clad kids poured out of the school and streamed up Beekman to greet the newly-minted chef, who rode in a stretch limousine with her family. Escorting them all the way from Tarrytown House more than two miles away was a parade of motorcycle cops, fire engines and EMT trucks representing villages and cities from Tuckahoe to Peekskill.

This wasn’t just a one-off honorarium garnished by a parade. Seven did a month’s worth of prep work to earn her new title. At Doyle’s, she devised her menu, consulted with the restaurant’s chefs about ingredients and put together an array of comfort foods—pizzas, tacos and her own special blend of hamburger meat that included shredded green peppers. The staff at JP Doyle’s plans to keep Seven’s burgers on their menu for another ten days, sending the profits to Make-A-Wish Hudson Valley.

Seven listens as Make-A-Wish CEO Kristine Burton sings her praises

In addition to being Seven’s debut as a chef, April 29^th is World Wish Day, culminating World Wish Month, observed the organization’s CEO and president, Kristine Burton. For nearly four decades, the Tarrytown-based non-profit, whose territory includes Delaware, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan and Ulster Counties as well as Westchester, has granted the wishes of over 3,200 sick children, including some 200 locally. For more information on the organization and how to donate, go to: hudson.wish.org/wwm.

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