One family making a difference: the chang family: Ethan + tom's splash story

​My name is Ethan Chang and I am a Junior at King Park High School in Kings Park, NY.
At the age of 10 months old I was diagnosed with an extremely rare genetic brain disease (megaencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts). To say the least, life has had its ups and downs but it hasn’t stopped me! About 10 years ago I joined Heather and the “Splash team” from Splashes of Hope after they heard about me from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Heather and the team set out to paint me a one of a kind mural for my bedroom. I was so inspired by their huge hearts that I wanted to give back.  Soon after, my mom and dad started volunteering too. I have been fundraising and volunteering with them ever since, and today I am their ambassador! In an attempt to raise funds, I reached out to a famous celebrity personality, Ellen Degeneres. I was hopeful that I would be a guest on her show to play "Dice with Ellen" and win money for Splashes while raising awareness of my condition. I was contacted by the show and they invited me and my family to sit in the VIP section of the studio audience! To date, I have raised over $8,000 for the organization. This past summer I turned 16 and became an official intern, and helped with so many Splashtastic Tasks to further the mission!

- Ethan Chang

Salesforce.com Helps The Splashes of Hope Mission​

I was fortunate enough to meet the Splashes of Hope team through a personal engagement.   After my son, Ethan was granted a generous gift from the Make-A-Wish foundation, our wish coordinator, Dave Gussaroff was kind enough to introduce the Splashes of Hope team to our family.   The CEO and Founder of Splashes of Hope, Heather Buggee came over to our home to meet Ethan in order to discover his personal likes and hobbies.  Ethan hit it off with Heather immediately, and the outcome of the ongoing engagements was a beautiful customized mural that Splashes of Hope painted for Ethan’s bedroom. 

My family and I were so impressed with the Splashes of Hope organization that we started to volunteer with them since they are a non-profit that relies on volunteers to operate.  Fortunately, I work for Salesforce and they are an amazing company that allocated their employees’ time to volunteer and encourages meaningful volunteering.  This gave me the opportunity to introduce Salesforce to the Splahes of Hope organization to engage in volunteering efforts.  This includes organized group volunteer sessions in New York, Indianapolis, and San Francisco and even a prominent booth at the 2015 Salesforce Dreamforce conference with over 150,000 attendees.  This led to the Splashes of Hope program called Painting for a Purpose where any organization can donate time and money to fund murals for hospitals, childrens’ rooms, vet homes, or any space that needs to be ‘Splashed’.  

My relationship with Splashes of Hope has thrived through ongoing engagement and I am currently proud to serve as the Vice President on the Board of Directors.   I hope that the volunteer work that we have done with Salesforce sets a great example of how other organizations can get involved in an impactful way for those in need of having their days and lives brightened up. 

- Tom Chang