Preteens Zax and Atlas Weaver are in the business of granting wishes.
Zax, 10, and Atlas, 9, make a variety of products to sell so they can accomplish their goals of making the world a better place.
On Saturday, Zax told his mother at Chesterton’s Holiday Market that he and Atlas made a wish for every kid to have a home.
For the boys, WISH stands for When Imagination Sparks Hope.
Standing in the cold Saturday, Zax staffed the booth with his parents, Amy and Brian Weaver. Atlas stayed with Grandpa, who is delighted to have his home taken over by shelf after shelf of his grandsons’ products and his warehouse turned into their workshop.
“Everything you see is handmade,” Zax said while displaying the wares. There were leather journals, pens, car coasters and more. The centerpiece, though, was a resin globe holding a dandelion gone to seed.
“When you blow on the dandelion, you make a wish,” Zax explained, then the seeds scatter far and wide in the wind.
The dandelion globes are popular. One school superintendent ordered a supply of to give one to each of his teachers.
The globes light up from a light built into the base. Older people tend to prefer the white lights; younger people prefer colored ones, Amy said.
Figuring out how to manufacture them was a family project. “It took about a year and a lot of throwaways,” Amy said, to figure it out. “We almost quit.”
The family used different molds, different machines, different pouring techniques before they finally were able to get consistent results.
The globes are easily their most popular product. Now there are dandelion night lights, too.
Since they began granting wishes in 2023, they’ve raised enough money to donate to six nonprofits.
The first recipient was Save the Dunes, so everyone can play on the beach. The organization invited the Weaver boys and their parents to their annual meeting to bestow the Dorothy Buell Youth Award to Zax and Atlas.
Next up was the Duneland Family YMCA, funding swim lessons for nearly three dozen children for the “no more drownings at the lake” wish. TrueNorth Training stables benefited from the wish, “so everyone can have a friend.”
Dunes Learning Center was No. 4, “so everyone can go to camp,” followed by Humane Indiana Wildlife, “so every animal can have a home” and Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, “stay safe at the lake.”
Their company, Lake Brothers WISH Co., is named for their proximity to, and love of, Lake Michigan.
For the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, the boys put a life ring in with the dandelion, Zax said. Customizing the design is a lot of fun, he said.
“We try to keep everything under $30,” Amy said, to make it all affordable.
Once the boys agree on a wish, it takes three to four months to raise enough money to make the donation to a nonprofit to grant the wish. “We make a wish every season,” she said.
“We just talk about local issues, maybe something the community needs,” Amy said, and the boys come up with their own wish.
When Zax mentioned the wish that every kid have a home, Amy asked Zax if he had discussed it with Atlas. He had. They would let Dad know later, then figure out a nonprofit that would help grant that wish.
The business just sort of evolved. “They just did a fundraiser, and it sold out in two hours,” Amy said. The boys wanted to continue.
“Atlas does a lot of the packaging and stuff,” Amy said. Zax is a born salesman. “Now they can pretty much run the show,” she said. “They’re learning every year.”
When setting up the business, the boys and Amy – their chief financial officer – went to a series of banks to decide where to set up their account. They decided on Porter Bank. The boys, 50/50 partners, had to promise that they wouldn’t abuse alcohol or anything else that would jeopardize the partnership.
The products are sold on etsy.com, in local shops and at fairs and festivals.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
