Wildcats shell out efforts to make wish come true for Hilbert girl battling cancer

When given three wishes, four-year-old Quinn Romenesko didn’t want a pony or a trip to Disney World; she wanted her very own backyard pond. Located across Lake Winnebago in the small town of Hilbert, Wisconsin, Quinn lives with a rare brain tumor that manifests in less than 100 cases per year. This led the little girl to become a part of the Make-A-Wish foundation, to which she declared her true desire. 

However, she needed something extra to add a little flare to her oasis, and this perked the ears of art teacher Linda Geffers.

“I was watching the news, and it said this little girl had brain cancer and was given three wishes,” she said. “I remember her saying that she didn’t want a trip because when she went on a trip, it was over with. She wanted something that she would always have. She wanted a pond.”

This project was entirely donated to the Romenesko family by the surrounding counties of Calumet and Manitowoc.

 “They all came together and dug this for her on her property,” said Geffers. “But, this is where the shells came in.”

Although the pond alone was going to be enough to bring joy to Quinn, the family decided to take it a step further. Geffers heard this and decided to take advantage of the opportunity. 

 “After the pond was done, they thought they would like to make it a beach for her,” she said. “I just happened to be watching the news before school, and it said that the family was collecting decorative shells and rocks for her beach. I thought, well we have tons of shells here, why can’t we do that?”

With a little more digging on social media, the decoration process began.

“I had to do a little research on Facebook to find the lady running the whole thing, and then I read more about her story,” said Geffers. “I came back, and I asked Mrs. [Kelly] Spanbauer and Mr. [Jason] Ryf, the other art teachers here, and they said it all sounded great. So, we made a little presentation with her story, so the students knew a little more about her. I’ve collected shells for years and years from people, so I put them out and let students decorate them.”

The Shells for Quinn project took place around early to mid-October and included a variety of student participation from the art classes.

“I told all the classes that if they wanted to participate, they could and just reminded them of when I needed to send them in,” said Geffers. “Whoever wanted to participate could, but it was mostly the Drawing and Painting classes.” 

After about a week or so, Geffers packed up the shells and delivered them to Hilbert. In the weeks following the event, Geffers heard Quinn’s name again on the news.

“Recently, I was watching the news, and it showed the whole community, the fire department, and loads of people coming to fill up the pond and decorate it with all the donated shells,” she said. “I remember a guy in the fire department saying ‘I’ve never had the privilege of making a wish come true.’”

Quinn’s number one wish did come true, thanks to so many people around the state who helped her get that permanent gift. 

“It was a nice way to give back because it was such an easy and accessible gesture for us to do for her,” Geffers said.

Geffers has been involved with projects like this before but wants to see them more often. 

“I definitely think we could do this kind of thing as a school more,” she said. “Those gestures go a really long way to those that we’re giving them to. I know that we don’t see them as big things, but I think it’s really important. We’ve had programs like the memory project where we had to draw dolphins, and it used to be free. Well, now it’s fifteen dollars a portrait. So, unfortunately, as things get bigger, it seems to cost more money.”

As money becomes a barrier for some, it’s even more important to pay attention to these events.

“We don’t even know about all the opportunities there are to participate in things like this,” Geffers said. “I’m always open to suggestions for opportunities like this, especially when it’s so small but comes with a huge payoff.”

It’s an important payoff as well, as a life could be changed or even saved from these small gestures. For Quinn Romenesko, it certainly made an impact. 

“I left a note with everything saying that the students of Oshkosh West are thinking of you and sending you much strength and courage,” said Geffers. “I just hope we made this little girl smile. I hope she knows there are many people all around that are thinking of her, praying for her, and sending her healing strength. I hope she knows that she’s not in this fight alone.”

by Len Kloss

Published November 28, 2022

Oshkosh West Index Volume 119 Issue III