News
Dear Genevieve makes a sick girls wish come true
We're not surprised that interior decorator Genevieve Gorder gets a lot of mail. The name of her HGTV show is, after all, "Dear Genevieve.'' We're also not surprised that Gorder has neither the time nor the inclination to read all of her correspondence.
"Typically,'' she says, "we get hundreds of thousands of applicants, and sorting through them can be a little like finding a needle in a haystack.''
But the note from Kate Chang was impossible to ignore. The 9-year-old, who lives with her parents on Gloucester Street in the Back Bay, was diagnosed two years ago with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. When the folks at the Make-a-Wish Foundation came calling, the little girl asked if Gorder, whose show she enjoys watching with her mother, might be able to gussy up her bedroom.
"It's really the highest honor when a child makes you their wish,'' says Gorder. "I said to HGTV, ‘I'm going to do this and if you want to capture it for the show, great, but I'm doing it.' ''
Gorder, who was a decorator on TLC's "Trading Spaces'' before getting her own show, flew to Boston Monday and met Kate first thing Tuesday. They wandered into Kate's room and shut the door.
"There was a lot of laughing and giggling going on,'' said Kabrina Chang, Kate's mother, a law professor at Boston University. "Kate loves being home in her room and she's very artistic. I think she wanted a wow factor.''
Wednesday, Genevieve and Kate were picked up in a stretch limo and taken to Trident Booksellers & Cafe on Newbury Street, where they had lunch - feeling a little decadent, Kate ordered the pancakes - and talked some more about the makeover. Then it was off to the South End for a shopping spree at Hudson Boston on Shawmut Avenue.
"She's a little girl in transition,'' Gorder said. "She asked for a loft bed because, I think, it feels more urban and cool. And she asked for the princesses and the pinks to disappear. How do I give her that strong primary-color palette and not make it a candy bar? That's the challenge.''
The Make-a-Wish Foundation of Massachusetts and Rhode Island last year granted 379 wishes. Many of them, according to CEO Charlotte Beattie, involved meeting a celebrity. (Tom Brady, Justin Bieber, and Mo'Nique are a few of the famous folks who met with children.) Kate's request was unique, Beattie said.
The reveal was yesterday and the reaction was ecstatic.
"Kate absolutely loves it,'' said her mother. "Genevieve got her 100 percent. It has a tween-year feel, yet there's still a 9-year-old girl there. It's definitely Kate's space.''