11-21-2022 4:33am

Make a Wish at the Cascino Wishing Tree

by Jane Stahl

The Boyertown Area Expression is inspired often by stories from the community about folks doing the “right thing,” at the right moment to help their neighbors, others who struggle, or their community. We believe that stories of these special people inspire others toward acts of compassion and grace. These stories can transform our lives and the lives of others.

Jamie and Jeff Cascino are a couple who offer their time, energy…and often their home…in assorted projects in order to better their community. One such project—the Wishing Tree—has become an annual tradition at the Cascino home.

This year, on November 27, 2022, at 7:00 p.m., the Cascinos invite the community to the lighting of their 3rd annual Wishing Tree. Folks will again be able to write their wishes on ornaments and then hang them on the tree. Throughout the holiday season, the tree will remain for others to add their wishes to the tree.

“It’s really touching,” shares Jeff, “there are always a few wishes for Barbies and other toys, but most of the wishes are about love and family, good health and making the world a more peaceful place.”

The couple keep each year’s wishes and shared a few from 2021, including “To see my dad and dog again,” “For Dad to find a job,” “To have a home,” “For mom to get better,” “For all to know love.”

“Their wishes are little prayers,” adds Jeff. “They give people hope.” The Cascino home was awarded in 2021, in the Richard A. Zuber Realty Light Tour contest, as the home showcasing the real meaning of Christmas.

The tradition is gaining followers. The first year, the tree held about 75 wishes; last year, the Cascinos collected over 100 wishes. This year the tree is acknowledged on the map of Boyertown’s Holiday Open House Tour, held on Friday, December 2, and the Cascinos expect many more folks will add their wishes to the tree.

“We are so very blessed,” explains Jamie. “When we bought this home from the town’s icons—Mary Lou and Charles Haddad—we explained to Greg Herb, our realtor, that this home would always be part of the community somehow. And so, we hold parties here for groups to celebrate events; we invite people to our home to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries or sometimes Celebrations of Life, or holidays we event.

“This year, as part of Jeff’s mother’s ‘bucket list,’ we had the 18-piece Directors’ Band hold a concert in our backyard. Connie shared that video with everyone We want people to enjoy life with us,” she concludes.

And, as the spirit of giving spreads through their example, during their own health challenges, the Cascinos found that the members of the 2/42 Church community “gave back” by providing meals for them, and clients and friends plowed, salted, and shoveled snow when they couldn’t.

Since Jamie’s return to Boyertown as the Branch Manager of Truist Bank, she has added her energy to the community as a volunteer member in a number of groups and projects—Building a Better Boyertown, the FCB Network (Family Community Business), the Boyertown Area Historical Society, for example. She has served for many years as an officer in the AMBUCS, a national organization dedicated to providing mobility to people with physical challenges.

Donations to the Historical Society were given their first year in their home. One of the trees that year featured the late Lynn Gilbert’s redware ornaments that were borrowed from the Historical Society. That year they had decorated Mary Lou’s beloved greenhouse with poinsettias, Santas, sleighs, white lights, and their first wishing tree that requested a donation toward the Historical Society in exchange for a chance to add a wish to the tree.

Monetary donations from the sale of furniture from Jeff’s mother’s home were given to the Boyertown Ambulance to purchase durable fire station furniture. Most impressive was Jamie’s donation of food that she collected from winning a chance drawing dedicated to raising funds toward the fountain at the Colebrookdale Railroad. Watching her race through Freed’s Market was a fun event itself; knowing that what she collected would benefit others was a testament to her dedication to sharing her blessings with others less fortunate.

As an elected member of Boyertown Borough Council, Jeff offers an “outsiders” perspective to the challenges of this small community. “Nothing is as simple as it sounds,” he notes. “While a decision may appear to be an easy one, once you hear everyone’s side to the issue, you realize that what you thought was a simple fix to an issue, really isn’t simple at all.”

In a confusing, complicated—often dark—world, the Cascinos offer a light to follow that is illustrated on a sweatshirt Jamie wears with pride that reads: “Cascino: Extra “C” for Caring, Community, Commitment.” Just watch them; you’ll see that they really mean it.

This feature “story” about my friends, the Cascinos, is inspired by a column I read by the late Andy Rooney. It is my hope that the story inspires others to share their stories with me or at the very least inspires a realization that “there is a good and bad in all of us and the right example at the right moment can make all the difference in the way men act.”

Let me explain.

The late Andy Rooney recalled a time he was working as a reporter for The Stars and Stripes in London in 1943 when the Germans were regularly bombing the city. It was bad and much of London was laid waste. At the time, the editor of a London newspaper talked about how the English had reacted to the bombing raids that destroyed so much of their city.

“The editor wrote, ‘When the first raid hit London, neither the government nor the newspapers knew what the people who had been hit were thinking and how they would take it. That evening, putting out the newspaper, we decided to assume from what evidence we had that they had acted heroically, and the next morning we printed all the stories that came in to us of their bravery, their good humor and their uncomplaining patience.

“‘Right then, the newspaper fixed the pattern of how people ought to behave in an air raid. Perhaps they would all have behaved that way anyway. But you know’—and here’s the thing—‘there is a good and bad in all of us and the right example at the right moment can make all the difference in the way men act.’”

There is no doubt: the right example at any moment inspires. And so, we invite YOU to let us know of the inspiring folks you know whom we can feature. Contact Lesley: expressioneditor1@gmail.com or Jane: janeEstahl@comcast.net.