A 13-year-old had the chance to get anything he wanted from Make-A-Wish. He chose to give back.
Adeola “Abraham” Olagbegi, a teenager from Jackson, Mississippi, opted to feed homeless people in his hometown for a year, rather than be treated himself following his diagnosis with life-threatening blood disorder aplastic anemia.
Olagbegi was diagnosed in June of 2020 with the form of bone marrow failure, which makes it impossible to produce red blood cells. After getting a transplant in November 2020, Make-A-Wish Mississippi helped bring Abraham’s Table—a monthly service that provides meals to the homeless—to life and is helping the young man distribute food for the next year in Jackson’s Poindexter Park.
“It was always a good thing to do, and that’s what I grew up doing that,” Abraham told WLBT. “So, I go back to my roots to do what I was taught to do.”
Make-A-Wish spokesperson Jamie Sandys told CNN that Abraham’s mission—which he had done with his family even before his diagnosis—was a “beautiful example of how one kid has been able to unite an entire community.”
“Between the businesses that have donated food and the people who have received food, Abraham’s wish has directly impacted hundreds of people at this point,” Sandys said.
The 13-year-old looks to continue Abraham’s Table as a nonprofit organization in the year’s to come, which his mother calls an experience that has taught Abraham “valuable life lessons.”
“As parents, we could only hope to raise good, God-fearing, productive members of society,” Miriam Olagbegi told CNN. “Sometimes we get things wrong and sometimes we get things right; so it’s nice to see when things go right.”
