According to its Web site, the charity has 75 chapters in the United States and 27 overseas affiliates spread across five continents. It claims to be the world's largest wish-granting organization.

In Florida, six chapter offices cover the state from Pensacola to Fort Lauderdale.

Since granting its first wish 25 years ago, the organization says, it has helped more than 127,000 children worldwide realize their fantasies.

The Tampa/Sarasota chapter, founded in Sarasota in 1986 and responsible for wish- granting across nine counties, granted its 1,000th wish last year.

Wishes typically fall into four categories, the charity's Web site says: I wish to go, I wish to be, I wish to meet, or I wish to have.

The organization will consider any child with a life- threatening medical problem from age 2 1/2 to 18 for a wish. Expenses are paid through individual and corporate donations, grants, gifts and chapter fees.

John W. Allman and Michael Fechter