(NEW YORK) — Basketball legend Michael Jordan is celebrating his 60th birthday by making kids’ wishes come true.
Jordan, who will turn 60 on Feb. 17, has donated $10 million to Make-A-Wish America, a nonprofit organization that grants wishes to children with critical illnesses.
Jordan’s donation is the largest in Make-A-Wish’s 43-year history, the organization said.
“The hope is for the record-setting donation to inspire others to ‘be like Mike’ by helping make more wishes possible,” a Make-A-Wish spokesperson told ABC News, referring to the catchphrase from Jordan’s iconic commercials with Gatorade.
Jordan himself has granted wishes to hundreds of Make-A-Wish kids over the years, beginning in 1989, according to the organization.
One child, an 11-year-old girl named Katie Dankowski, met the former Chicago Bulls start in 2000 while she was undergoing treatment for a brain tumor.
Inspired by Jordan granting her wish, Dankowski, who now lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia, went on to work for her local Make-A-Wish chapter for five years after completing her medical treatment and graduating college, according to Make-A-Wish.
Make-A-Wish grants thousands of wishes for children with critical illnesses in the U.S. every year, at a rate of one wish every 34 minutes, according to the organization.
Make-A-Wish was founded in 1980 after a group of people in Phoenix, Arizona, came together to help a 7-year-old boy battling leukemia who wished to be a police officer.
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