Remember that birthday-cake code, “Don’t tell your wish or it won’t come true”?

Three years ago at the NCAA Convention in Anaheim, California, Nicole DeBlois, then a junior volleyball student-athlete at Bentley College, blew out that childhood mantra. She dared dream aloud to her Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee colleagues about tackling a division-wide, national fund-raiser for a worthy cause.

Perhaps the nonprofit organization’s name, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, was a factor. Maybe some mojo floated over from the nearby Magic Kingdom, but mostly because a host of people listened and then worked, wish became reality.

In 2003, the Division II SAAC hoped to raise $5,000. When it came time to present a check, the total, including some matching gifts, was $49,957. Now the fund-raiser has become an annual tradition, and SAAC continues to surpass its goals, last year raising $79,877, including matching contributions. This year’s goal is $100,000, enough to grant about 20 wishes to deserving children.

The Wish recipients, by the way, also have to violate the birthday-cake code. The Make-A-Wish Foundation may be savvy, but it’s not clairvoyant. But a Make-A-Wish official did make one prediction.

“I have no doubt they’ll get to $100,000,” said Carynne O’Rourke, an alliance manager executive who helps steer the Division II SAAC’s efforts. “They already have surpassed our expectations.”

Division II’s 2004-05 financial contribution placed it in the nonprofit organization’s Fund-Raising Advocate category, along with well-known corporate supporters, including Fairmont Hotels, Brooks Brothers and Rack Room Shoes.

“When we can instill this kind of passion in people for so long, it’s great for us,” O’Rourke said. “The student-athletes are very professional and dedicated to what they are doing. It’s neat for me to be working with people instead of a corporation. This is more grass roots than a lot of other programs we do.”

Looking back, DeBlois said her 2003 Convention wish wasn’t planned. It just crept out in casual conversation.

“I realized this was an opportunity to be involved in a national fund-raiser that I’d probably never have again,” she said. “I asked one of my SAAC friends about it, SAAC voted on it, and it just bloomed.”

At first, DeBlois wanted to raise $1 million — and Division II still might some day — but baby steps came first. Most schools already had relationships with other charities, so SAAC knew motivation would be necessary.

“We needed to get schools to realize that this would be national, unlike what they might already be doing,” DeBlois said. “Part of the motivation was helping build the unity of Division II. Another part was building hype around the idea of all these schools working toward a common goal and getting them to want to be part of the excitement.”

The conference champion fund-raiser has been the Northeast-10, home of DeBlois’ alma mater. Assistant Commissioner Erin Callahan, who coordinates the conference’s SAAC groups, credited the individual schools. She said that SAAC representatives from each conference school meet as a group twice a year to trade ideas, but other than that, they work independently.

“It’s just the pride of each campus coming through,” said David Brunk, Northeast-10 commissioner. “We make a nice presentation during one of the top school’s athletics events. That in and of itself has peaked interest.”

Particularly at St. Anselm College, the conference school that has raised the most money two years in a row. Donna Guimont, associate athletics director/SAAC advisor, said the key to the Hawks’ success has been persistence.

“We’ve just paid attention to it throughout the year rather than doing big projects here and there,” she said.

An example is the sale of lollipops at concession stands during every athletics event. Other efforts include T-shirt sales and balloon releases, as well as 50-50 raffles, which the athletics department has mandated may be done only for Make-A-Wish.

 “A lot of our spirit of involvement is that it’s an NCAA effort and is promoted by our conference,” Guimont said. “Another motivator is that after leading in the first year and the second year, we want to keep that standing.”

The first year culminated when DeBlois, then SAAC’s coordinator for the project, presented a check to the Make-A-Wish Foundation at the inaugural Division II National Championships Festival in Orlando in May 2004.

“I remember being on stage and just shaking,” she said. “It was one of those big checks like you see presented on TV.

“It was just amazing how it came together.”

And how it continues. DeBlois’ successor, Megan Burd, a softball student-athlete at Wheeling Jesuit University, is helping lead the $100,000 drive. An elementary education major specializing in special education, she works daily with the types of children who often benefit from Make-A-Wish. Like DeBlois, Burd knows that despite her leadership role, she’s still a bit player. National teamwork, she said, is the key.

“We send reminders to conference reps and suggest creative ways they can help raise money,” she said. “We know that student-athletes don’t have a lot of money to give, so we concentrate on a little at a time, such as spare-change drives.”

The real excitement, of course, comes not from money raised but money spent — in other words, when a wish is granted. The foundation’s stated mission is to “grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.”

DeBlois, Burd and friends witnessed results when they attended a party for Wish children and their families in Indianapolis with the rest of Division II SAAC last year.

“Seeing those kids made me realize that this is such a perfect fit for the NCAA,” DeBlois said. “The enthusiasm and fight those kids have after being through so much is inspiring.”

As is a group of student-athletes who have captured — and shared — the power of a wish.