After a diagnosis of leukemia, Marisa Monbrod, 10, of Crystal Lake was granted a wish by a foundation used to getting such requests as a day in a castle or to go swimming with dolphins.

Not Marisa. She asked Make-A-Wish Foundation for a trip to West Virginia to carry donated clothing, blankets and other supplies to those in need in the Appalachian Mountains.

“This is one of the most unique wishes we have ever had,” said Sean Leahy, a local volunteer with the charitable organization. “In Illinois, no one that I have spoken to has had an experience with a child wishing to collect donations to give to others.”

Marisa, her brother Ricky, 7, and their parents, Maggie and Richard, will depart in July in an RV and drive about 600 miles to the Appalachian Dream Center near Charleston, W.Va. The facility provides food, household items and other basic supplies to those in need.

Marisa and her family plan to deliver material collected from their community—everything from Bibles, backpacks and toys to notebooks, pencils and cash donations.

“Whatever the spirit moves you to give,” said Richard Monbrod.

Marisa’s wish, she said, is to teach the love-of-neighbor message of Jesus and bring help to families who live in an area devastated in recent years by the decline of the coal industry.

“I didn’t really need anything super bad and I figured these people don’t have anything,” Marisa said…