Story highlights Foster children don't often get what they want, but one group is trying to help change that

Danielle Gletow's nonprofit posts kids' wishes online so anyone can pay for them

Wishes can be tangible like a bike, or they can be an experience like music lessons

Many 16-year-olds might covet a smartphone, an Xbox, maybe some expensive new sneakers or even a car.

Ronald Hennig just wanted a suit so he could attend a relative's funeral.

"I didn't really own even a shirt and tie or dress shoes," he said. "I was seeing some of my old family members, and it was kind of embarrassing to not have a suit when everyone else would have one."

The teenager, who had been in and out of foster care for much of his childhood, was living in a group home at the time. His caseworker was unable to justify the nonessential expense.

But an anonymous benefactor stepped in to help Hennig through a website called One Simple Wish

"I got custom-fitted for the suit and I was able to go to the funeral," said Hennig, now 18. "I could pay the same respect as everyone else."

One Simple Wish was started by Danielle Gletow to help grant the wishes of children in foster care. Each child's wish is posted online, and anyone can pay to make that wish come true --- from tangible items such as a bicycle, a varsity jacket or school supplies to an experience like music lessons or a trip to the theater.

Since 2008, the nonprofit has granted more than 6,500 wishes for children living in 42 states.

Thanks to One Simple Wish, more foster children are able to do the things they've always wanted to do but couldn't.

"There are thousands of children in the foster-care system who go without those normal childhood experiences that many of us have had," said Gletow, 34. "These kids are separated from their parents. They're separated from their siblings. They really don't have people to ask. ... A lot of them decide that it's not worth wishing anymore because it isn't going to happen."

Since 2006, Gletow and her husband, Joe, have been foster parents to several children, eventually adopting one of them. Over the years, many friends and family members expressed a desire to help other children in the system, short of becoming foster parents themselves.

"(They) would say, 'I really wish there was something I could do, but I don't want to be a foster parent,' " Gletow said. "I just felt like, this is my opportunity to create something that makes it possible for all of these children who need something to get connected to all of these wonderful people that are out there, that want to help them."

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than 400,000 children were living in the U.S. foster-care system in 2011. But Gletow fears that, too often, we don't see what these numbers represent.

"These are individual children that have individual wishes and individual personalities and wants and needs and dislikes and likes," she said. "And I wanted to share those with people so that ... they could see that this wasn't about nearly half a million children that are in foster care. This was about this young man who wanted to go to karate lessons with his friends at school."

Photos: The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 Photos: The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 – After Dale Beatty , right, lost his legs in the Iraq war, his community thanked him for his service by helping him build a home. To pay it forward, Beatty co-founded Purple Heart Homes, which has helped build or modify homes for dozens of disabled U.S. veterans. "We wouldn't leave someone behind on the battlefield," Beatty said. "Why would we do it at home?" Hide Caption 1 of 10 Photos: The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 – For decades, Georges Bwelle watched his father suffer, unable to get the medical attention he needed. Now a doctor, Bwelle travels into the jungles of his native Cameroon nearly every weekend, providing free medical care for those who don't have access to good health care. "To make people laugh, to reduce the pain, that's why I'm doing this," he said. Hide Caption 2 of 10 Photos: The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 – More than 72,000 people in Charlotte, North Carolina, lack access to fresh produce. When Robin Emmons discovered this problem, she took action. "I decided to rip up my whole backyard and make it all a garden for people in need," she said. Since 2008, Emmons has grown more than 26,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables for area residents. Hide Caption 3 of 10 Photos: The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 – Foster children don't often get the things other children do, but Danielle Gletow is trying to help change that. She posts their wishes online so the public can help grant them. "I'm here to be the mom to all these kids who might not feel like they have one," she said. Since 2008, her group has helped grant more than 6,500 wishes in 42 states. Hide Caption 4 of 10 Photos: The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 – Tawanda Jones is using dance to empower the youth of Camden, New Jersey, one of the poorest cities in the country. Through Jones' drill team program, at least 4,000 children have learned discipline, respect and community service -- and all of them have graduated high school. "We need to take back our city and, most importantly, take back our youth," Jones said. Hide Caption 5 of 10 Photos: The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 – For many children fighting cancer, it can be extremely tough to make it to their chemotherapy appointments. But Richard Nares started a group that gives them transportation and support. "No child should miss their cancer treatment due to lack of transportation," said Nares, who lost his son to leukemia in 2000. Hide Caption 6 of 10 Photos: The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 – Kakenya Ntaiya is inspiring change in her native Kenyan village. After becoming the first woman in the village to attend college in the United States, she returned to open the village's first primary school for girls. "Our work is about empowering the girls," Ntaiya said. "They are dreaming of becoming lawyers, teachers, doctors." Hide Caption 7 of 10 Photos: The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 – Chad Pregracke has made it his life's work to clean up the Mississippi River and other American waterways. Since 1998, about 70,000 volunteers have helped Pregracke remove more than 7 million pounds of garbage from 22 rivers across the country. "Picking up garbage, it's tough, miserable and hot," Pregracke said. "We try to make it fun." Hide Caption 8 of 10 Photos: The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 – Estella Pyfrom used her life savings to create "Estella's Brilliant Bus," a mobile computer lab that provides tutoring for thousands of low-income students in Palm Beach County, Florida. "It's not just a bus, it's a movement," Pyfrom said. "And we're going to keep making a difference." Hide Caption 9 of 10 Photos: The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 – Laura Stachel created a special "solar suitcase" to help health-care workers deliver babies in more than 20 developing countries. "I really want a world where women can deliver babies safely and with dignity," Stachel said. Hide Caption 10 of 10

The most common wishes on One Simple Wish typically cost $10 to $100, and they generally do not exceed $500. Higher-priced wishes can be granted by pooling the resources of multiple donors.

"The wishes that don't seem like the basic necessity are (often) the ones that are the most important," Gletow said. "Because those are the wishes that are really just a kid being a kid, and asking for something that they want to have fun.

"We want them talking about fun things and happy things. We don't want to constantly remind them of how sad or tragic or challenging their circumstances are. We want to remind them that, 'Yeah, there's a really cool new video game out there, and you can play it and there's nothing wrong with that.' "

On rare occasions, there are wishes that exceed $500, such as flying a family member in to attend a graduation or continuing music lessons. These are granted through fundraising drives on the website.

"Anybody -- anywhere, anytime -- can go on our website, and they can look at hundreds of wishes that are posted on behalf of children in foster care and children in vulnerable family environments," Gletow said. "These small things make an enormous difference in the life of a child who has spent their entire life wondering if anybody cares about them."

All the wishes on One Simple Wish are submitted by approved social service agencies and caseworkers. Once the wishes are reviewed and posted to the website, donors can post funds to make a wish come true.

"It's just like online shopping, but at the end you get to give a gift to a child who will thank you more than you could ever imagine," Gletow said. "When a child's wish is granted, we are reassuring them that their voices are being heard."

Gletow also is constantly searching for ways to maximize a gift's value, calling individuals or companies who might be in a position to donate the wish in-kind or provide an item or service at a discount.

"I'm here to be the mom to all of these kids out there who might not feel like they have one," she said. "If I had an enormous house, I'd invite them all to live here. I can't do that, but I know that what I'm doing is making a difference in their lives."

Gletow's nonprofit is also working in other ways to fill gaps in the foster community. Its office is home to several offshoot projects that have benefited thousands of foster youths and families in New Jersey.

The Ohana Project helps foster kids, foster-care workers and families by providing 24/7 access to new baby supplies, bed linens and blankets, pajamas and other items that can ease a child's transition into a new placement or home.

JUST WATCHED Comfort for foster kids Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Comfort for foster kids 01:44

The Wish to Work program targets older youth to help give them the skills needed in professional careers. Wish to Work provides job-training seminars, networking events, résumé feedback and other assistance.

"I'm now able to apply to college, and I know that I have a competitive résumé," said Hennig, who participated in the program last year. "I know how to be just as equipped as every other teenager my age. And I've gotten all of the same skills that parents would pass down to their children."

Gletow says this is what keeps her going.

"Our states take children out of their homes and say, 'We can do a better job raising you,' and then they don't," she said. "And we need to all step up as a society and do that.

"It's up to every individual person to say all of our children deserve better. Not just the ones that are born into good circumstances. ... That's what I'm going to do with my life. I want my life to be a life of purpose."