Orianne Collins Mejjati is in the business of fulfilling dreams. One of her favorite stories is about a young boy bound to a wheelchair who was told by doctors that he’d never walk again, even with assistance. After being accepted into Little Dreams Foundation, the boy practiced every week with his instructors and moved as best he could. His strength and confidence slowly grew throughout the program until a miracle, as Mejjati describes it, occurred. The boy’s dream became a reality; he began walking with the support of a cane. “I’m getting goose bumps just telling this story,” Mejjati says. This is just one of the many success stories she gets to share.
Established in 2000 by Mejjati and her then-husband and music legend Phil Collins, Little Dreams Foundation has a core mission of fulfilling the dreams of underprivileged youths who show promise and passion in music, arts or sports. Some of the children in each field are also challenged by physical handicaps. Children receive weekly individual and group lessons from trained instructors, and the foundation also covers equipment and tournament fees. An added bonus? Being mentored by the likes of Phil Collins, Tina Turner and Natalie Cole.
Mejjati, who is also a jewelry designer by trade, and Collins started out assisting children who were individually reaching out for mentorship. As they helped the children one by one, they had the idea to create a foundation in Switzerland, where Mejjati was born and raised, to assist a wider range of children. When Mejjati relocated to Miami at the end of 2013, she brought the foundation with her.
According to Mejjati, Little Dreams Foundation only accepts a small amount of applicants each year so that it can focus its efforts. Approximately 280 youths participate in the program in Europe with another 12 children active in the U.S. Mejjati and Collins hope to increase that figure as the foundation takes hold in the states, thereby growing their family.
Mejjati likes to call the Little Dreams Foundation “a big family.” Even the mentors, some of whom are celebrities, are like family, or more specifically, “godparents,” says Mejjati. “They have made a commitment to be with the child through the good and the bad times.”
This past December the foundation held its annual gala at The Fillmore Miami Beach. Nearly 2,500 guests marveled at the children’s onstage performances alongside Collins, Richard Marx and Laura Pausini. “The best part about when the children perform [is that] people can’t see their handicaps anymore,” Mejjati says. “They just see them as performers.” —Nila Do Simon
