FLORIDA MOM MAGAZINE - January '09 - Karen Brune Mathis and Dreams Come True
 When your child is sick, you drop everything. You stay by their side and jump at any chance to make them feel better.
Dreams Come True is the only locally-based non-profit agency that grants dreams for local children who are battling life threatening illnesses. Dreams can range from a ride on a horse, meeting their favorite actor to a trip to Disney World.
Karen Brune Mathis executive director of Dreams Come True, also a mom, knows what it was like when her children were sick, and now she has the chance to alleviate other children’s suffering and put a smile on their face every day.
Mathis has two children, Eric, 21 and Alex, 19. Though they both are older, the feeling you get when your child is suffering never changes. “I just thank God every day for every blessing with my children,” said Mathis. “I see children that are my children’s age and my heart goes out to them and their parents knowing that that is such a difficult position to be in to know that your child has a life threatening illness.”
Mathis said meeting the children is one of the best parts of her job. “When we meet the children, it’s amazing the strength they have,” said Mathis. “They just have so much life, energy and happiness. I mean they are children. They are children who are in a really terrible place in their life. They are suffering from an illness or condition that no one should have to be enduring, much less a child. But, the children are always enthusiastic about their dreams and are enthusiastic about life. I get a lot personally out of meeting and working with the children. I’m always in awe of their strength.”
As the executive director, Mathis manages the budget, manages the entire operation, which entails making sure everything that needs to be done is done, meets with community leaders and works with donors so they understand what Dreams Come True does and continues to support the mission.
Donors support through resources, gifts or in kind services. “What is best is when you work with the children, because then you know exactly why you do what you do,” said Mathis. “That’s one of the beauties of Dreams Come True. You know why you do what you do every day. There is never a question of what you are doing.
If it is there to help the children and continue the mission, then that is what you should be doing.”
You’ll recognize Mathis’ name from the Florida Times Union, where she was a business writer for almost 30 years. “I started as a business writer,” she said. “Then I became an assistant business editor, business editor, business columnist and then a metro columnist.”
So, how does one go from being a reporter for 30 years to an executive director of a non-profit? “Both positions require a lot of networking in the community,” said Mathis. “Both positions require building trust with people you work with. That’s what I had to do in the paper and in the media. In order to build that trust, you have to build those relationships. When you do that, you can carry that into other professions.”
When she looked at the board of directors, she realized she knew almost all of them from her years as a reporter.
Mathis has been at Dreams Come True for one year. “This position came open and the (now retired) chairman Laine Silverfield, asked if I would consider applying for the position,” said Mathis. “I’d been at the Florida Times Union for almost 30 years and had put in some great time there and had a great career and thought, maybe this is the perfect way to continue in the professional world.”
They grant about 200 dreams a year. “The dreams are as unique as the children, but our most popular dream is Disney,” said Mathis. “They either want to go to Walt Disney World or go on a Disney Cruise.”
When a trip is granted, they offer to have a Celebration of Life party at Dreams Come True. “It’s sort of a Bon Voyage party,” she said. “We’ll have cake, pizza and ice cream and present the details of the dream to the children. We have a former dreamer and her mother that come to decorate for as many parties as they can.”
Joanna B. Blinn, director of program development at Dreams Come True, works directly with the children and told of one child who was granted a dream and now gives back to the organization the best way she knows how. “Amanda, who is battling a neurological illness, went to meet the cast of the Simpsons,” said Blinn. “It’s her favorite show. She loves it. That was her dream and it was a few years ago. Since then she and her mother volunteer at dream parties and help out at events. They are just amazing folks.”
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