As many of you know, our nonprofit Special Wants has been a labor of love and community for many years. đ Your support, your encouragement, and your generosity have helped us do meaningful work in the lives of families and individuals impacted by special needs.
Today weâre sharing our *secondâtoâlast post* on this page as part of our ongoing dissolution process for our nonprofit.
Over the last few months, weâve been working through the steps required to responsibly close our organization. That included paying all final fees and obligations, and then deciding where to direct any remaining funds. Our goal was simple: make sure those dollars continue to support the mission weâve always cared about - helping people in the special needs community thrive.
After careful consideration, we selected three amazing organizations that align closely with our values and mission, and to whom we have now directed our remaining funds. We were honored to pay it forward to these groups, each of which has done wonderful work in service of families and individuals with special needs - and has been a supporter of Special Wants over the years as well.
We have closed our Special Wants bank account and all donation links have now been deactivated.
Here are the organizations who received our support:
[Greenwich Autism Alliance](https://greenwichautismalliance.org/) â $1,500
The Greenwich Autism Alliance is dedicated to supporting families and children affected by autism through awareness, acceptance, and local grants. Their work provides resources and support for families, educators, and service providers so that individuals with autism can access opportunities and thrive in their communities.
[Autism Movement Project](https://www.ampfitnj.com/) â $800
The Autism Movement Project uses fitness and sports programming as an avenue for health, wellness, and social development for individuals with developmental delays. Their inclusive classes and activities focus on physical fitness, communication, and socialization in a fun, supportive environment.
[More Than Project](https://morethanproject.org/) â $1,354.48
The More Than Project supports the entire family unit impacted by special needs - including caregivers, siblings, and individuals with diagnoses. Through community programs, retreats, and resources, they foster connection, understanding, and compassion for families navigating the challenges and joys of life with special needs.
We are so grateful to have the opportunity to support these organizations.
We feel so lucky to have had such continuous support over the years. đ
It has meant more than words can express.
With gratitude,
The Special Wants Team
03/13/2026
Some of the most important people behind Special Wants were never the ones standing in the spotlight - they were the ones quietly building the foundation that made everything possible. And for us, that person was Samantha.
Many years ago, after our very first holiday wishlist exchange wrapped up, everything had been managed on a shared spreadsheet.
It worked⌠but barely.
I remember putting out a simple call to friends asking if anyone might be able to help create a basic website where we could manage the wish lists each year.
My husbandâs cousin, Samantha, graciously volunteered.
I showed her a sample website from another nonprofit - and honestly, that was about the extent of my âtechnical briefing.â What she created from that tiny bit of information was nothing short of a masterpiece.
She built the website that became the heart of Special Wants.
Every single year, Samantha continued to improve it. She added features, fixed things we didnât even know needed fixing, and adjusted the system as we learned more with each wishing season. The site evolved alongside our organization, quietly supporting thousands of wishes and countless moments of joy.
She never once asked for anything in return.
During the busy signup periods, Samantha was always right there behind the scenes - resetting accounts, helping people figure out which email address they used (confession: that part sometimes made us crazy⌠hahaha), and troubleshooting anything that popped up.
She handled it all without a single complaint.
Iâm quite sure I made her a little crazy over the years with last-minute ideas or âdream featuresâ I hoped the website might someday have⌠but if thereâs one thing Iâve learned, itâs that there truly isnât anything Samantha canât figure out.
We made a great team.
I will deeply miss our little project together, but I feel so incredibly proud of what we built over these past ten years.
Dear Samantha â Iâm shouting this from the rooftop: Special Wants would never have had a chance to succeed without you.
I may have often been the âfaceâ of the organization, sharing posts and updates, but you were the foundation and the engine that kept everything running.
I am endlessly grateful for every minute you spent making this dream possible.
And I really hope I get to give you the biggest hug someday soon⌠even if you do live all the way on the other side of the country.
Thank you, Samantha, for your brilliance, your generosity, and your quiet magic. Special Wants will always carry your fingerprints. đ
--Jo-Ann
[Note: Thanks to the magic of AI, I created this picture of us together ironically wearing almost identical outfits!! Even though the ratio/sizing is a bit off - you get the point đ]
03/11/2026
As we reflect on the incredible journey of Special Wants, there are certain people whose kindness and dedication truly made the magic happen. Today I want to shine a spotlight on two amazing volunteers who helped carry so much of this mission on their shoulders - Lyssa and Samantha D.
Lyssa was our incredible *wish list angel helper*. Every year we had hundreds of wishes to review, confirm, and follow up on. Anyone who knows me knows that part always brought me a lot of anxiety â worrying that a wish wasnât clear, a link didnât work, or an item wasnât actually in stock.
But Lyssa stepped in and completely changed that for me.
She carefully checked every wish request to make sure it was complete, easy to understand, available, and linked correctly. Because of her attention to detail, I could finally breathe a little easier knowing that everything was in good hands. Lyssa truly helped make the magic happen behind the scenes.
And then thereâs Samantha D., who spent the last several years creating the beautiful social media posts that highlighted wishes waiting to be granted. Her posts helped bring those wishes to life and made it so much easier for angels to find and grant them.
Thanks to Samantha, the world saw an organized, efficient operation â even when things behind the scenes felt anything but.
The truth is, without the help of volunteers like Lyssa and Samantha, none of this would have been possible. They gave their time, energy, and talent without ever expecting anything in return.
If I had to do it all over again, one thing I might do differently is build an even bigger team so the work didnât fall on just a few incredible people.
But what I will always treasure most are the connections that came from Special Wants.
Lyssa, Samantha â I am endlessly grateful for you, and I truly hope the friendships we built last forever. đ
-- Jo-Ann
03/07/2026
One of my favorite memories from our Special Wants wishing seasons is something that might seem small on the surface - but to me, it captures everything this community has been about.
Years ago, during the season when we granted thousands of wishes to special education classrooms, a teacher named Lindsay W. was one of the wish recipients. As a teacher, she was advocating for her students and hoping to bring a little extra support and joy into her classroom. Like so many educators, she simply wanted the best for the kids she cared for every day.
Fast forward several years.
During this past wishing season, Lindsay made a donation to help grant wishes for other families in our final wishing season. Along with her gift, she included this note:
âPaying forward to an organization that granted me wishes many years ago for my classroom. Thank you for everything that you do to bring acceptance and provide smiles to so many families! Grant as many wishes as you can!â
I read that message back in early November, and honestly, I still think about it often.
Because thatâs the magic of kindness.
A small ripple can travel farther than we ever imagine. One moment of generosity can grow into something bigger years later.
As we close this chapter of Special Wants after 10 incredible years, stories like Lindsayâs remind me that the impact will continue long after the final wishing season. The ripples we created together will keep moving forwardâand that may be the greatest gift of all. đ
--Jo-Ann
03/02/2026
This organization would not have been successful without the strong support from so many angels. We have hundreds of angels out there who have donated money or granted wishes over the past 10 years.
But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to shout out a very special "super angel" -- Lori S. đ
Chances are good that she granted one of your family's wishes over the years. In 2025, she granted 110 wishes!
Angels were truly the heart of our wishing season.
Perfect strangers willing to spend their money and send gifts to people they never met. Not expecting anything other than a thank you in return. â¤
To every angel out there.
I saw you.
I read every email that came to my mailbox when a wish was granted.
Your good deed did not go unnoticed.
There really are not sufficient words to convey my "thanks" to each of you.
So I will simply stop here and hope that you will always remember and feel the gratitude I will keep in my heart forever.
--- Jo-Ann
02/27/2026
Dear Friends of Special Wants:
We are nearing the close of our nonprofit. Just a few more steps to go before everything is legally closed and all financial accounts shut down.
We will be taking down our website and closing this page, but there are a few thank you's that I have to share over the next few weeks.
During the past several weeks I have been reviewing all of our files and documentation. I save everything.
I have every single donation check we have ever received.
I have pages and pages of donor transactions through various payment portals.
I have hundreds of emails from grateful families and humble donors.
It's hard to encapsulate my feelings from 10 years worth of memories into just a few posts. But please know that I have cherished (almost) every moment. Ha. Some really did give me a headache.
I hope that Special Wants has somehow made your life better.
Maybe you were a family that received holiday wishes.
Maybe you felt the gratitude of the gifts or funds that you generously donated.
Maybe you just smiled as you watched the countdown numbers go down to zero year after year.
Maybe your heart was filled with sunshine when reading some heartwarming stories and posts on this page.
However Special Wants touched your life -- know that it meant the world to me!
--- Jo-Ann
12/27/2025
Special Wants hopes all our angels and wish families had a wonderful holiday! We hope that you were surrounded by the love of family and friends near and far.
We also hope that you remember to say THANK YOU to your angel who granted your wishes - and if you are open to it - it always makes it extra special if you share a picture.
Special Wants has truly treasured these past 10 years. We feel proud to have been able to grant 14,000 wishes.
Thank you for making our last wishing season so special. We will continue to share thank you's here for the next month or so. We want to make sure our donor angels can see the gratitude coming from our wish families.
Happy New Year to all.
12/20/2025
This one will warm my heart for a long time â¤
"You guys did it again! Another year of hundreds of wishes granted.
I wish you could be there peeking in the windows of each of these children (and adults) living rooms as they see the wonder of Santa and open gifts that you all made happen. Your hearts are so big that you found room for my littles, who you have never met.
I can't convey what your generosity and love means to our family. 4 boys will wake up to the magic of Santa. Everything has increased this year food costs have increased dramatically and energy costs are up 35%.
All of the costs associated with special needs loved ones are still present. This year was so tough on us. A job loss has left us juggling which bills we can pay and deciding between a dollar store Christmas or a credit card Christmas (and let's be real those are about maxed and need to be saved for the electric/gas disconnect bill).
You saved christmas for us. JoAnn, truly, thank you. You are such a beautiful human and your family as well as ours is so lucky to have you. Thank you for a final year with special wants. Thank you for loving this strangers babies and for finding a whole group of generous angels that share your mission. We will never forget you. I wish you the best in your coming years and wherever life takes the "Bacon family."
Love from another wish family.
12/19/2025
To all our wonderful angels:
"Thank you so much for giving something so needed to my daughter, Amelia. This year has been heavy in ways I didnât expect, and seeing someone step in with this kind of kindness means more than I can ever put into words.
Your generosity doesnât just meet a need â it brings a little light back into a season thatâs been hard for us. Iâm grateful beyond measure that there are people willing to sponsor kids like Amelia and make sure they feel seen and cared for at Christmas. Thank you, truly, for making a difference in her world. And in mine."
--signed a grateful Wish Family
12/18/2025
"Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the incredible kindness youâve shown my children this Christmas. Your generosity made their wishes come true in a way I never could have imagined. The joy, excitement, and pure wonder on their faces is something I will remember forever. Thank you for choosing to bless our family. Your compassion has touched us more deeply than you know, and we are truly, truly grateful."
--from a grateful Wish family!
12/18/2025
"I have no idea why youâve chosen to help strangers like this, but I am so grateful."
I have one last wish I'm tracking that is due to arrive next Tuesday. So if you had wishes granted by "Special Wants Angels" donations and didn't receive your wish by now, you should have - so let me know.
Also, in the coming days I will share some of the thank you messages that have been received. So if you were an angel that donated to Special Wants - please know you brought smiles to a special needs family this season.
-----------------------
Thank you for making this Christmas so magical for my kids. Your generous gifts and the love behind them mean the world to me.
This year has been exceptionally hard for me, and Iâve been pulled into too many care giver positions with not enough to give. I have no idea why youâve chosen to help strangers like this, but I am so grateful.
The world in general, and my world in particular, has felt very bleak lately, but Special Wants, is a bright spark in all this mess. Your gifts will bring joy to my kids this year, but they bring hope to me, and I cannot thank you enough for both of those gifts. Youâve made a lasting difference, and I appreciate each of you more than you know.
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In November 2015, Anna Turning had an idea to create a group that would connect special needs families to help them locate hard-to-find, rare, discontinued, or unique items or toys. It began making an impact immediately. Individuals with autism, in particular, often fixate on certain objects or items for comfort. When those items are broken or lost, it creates an impossible situation at home filled with meltdowns, crying, and non-stop requests to have that item again. Many special needs individuals seem to love watching product videos online and often they see items that spark their interest and âneed to haveâ immediately. That kicks off a quest and search by their family to try and locate the item for them and restore peace and harmony in the household.
Thatâs where Special Wants: A Bacon and Juice Boxes Project comes into the picture. This Facebook group has connected families across the world to find many different types of items. It may have been to find a special blanket that has worn away to threads, a favorite article of clothing in a larger size because the child wonât wear anything else, or a new toy because theirs was lost or broken. The group is the most amazing place on the internet and has extremely amazing searching skills to try and help families identify âmanufacturerâ or store where something was sold so it might be easier to find. And of course, we always love to see when a âmatchâ is made and a request is fulfilled.
From a simple idea, Special Wants Inc. has grown into a 501c3 organization with a mission to deliver sensory items, gifts, and a sense of community to families in the U.S.A. who are caring for loved ones with special needs during the holiday season and throughout the year.
We host an annual holiday âwish listâ for special needs families and grant wishes to families and individuals in financial need.
Special Wants, Inc. is unique because we:
Do not have an age limit for our special needs loved ones
We know that special needs children grow up to be special needs adults.
Connect angels directly to families needing help
You can select your wishes and purchase/ship them directly to your wish requestor. You will receive a thank you and very often pictures from the wish requestors around the holidays. You can see and feel the impact you made. We also include siblings (age 17 and younger), as we know often they are the glue that holds the family together and sometimes can get lost in the shuffle when care and attention need to be directed to a special needs loved one.
Some wish requests are for gently used/previously owned items
We know the power of connecting families who have, with families who need. Very often you already own something that is not being used that someone else wants or needs.
100% of your financial donations are used for granting wishes.
We donât have any paid staff or overhead costs at this point in time, so we can ensure that every penny you donate is used to ensure requestors wish is granted.
