Make-A-Wish has postponed its annual Mother’s Day truck convoy held in Lancaster County because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Make-A-Wish office in Lancaster also is closed temporarily until further notice. Staff can be reached by phone or email.

“Safety is at the heart of everything we do, and we at Manheim Pennsylvania Auto Auction remain fully committed to hosting the Make-A-Wish Convoy when the time is right,” said Joey Hughes, vice president and general manager of the Manheim Pennsylvania Auto Auction. “We look forward to working with their staff on a new event date.”

The convoy was scheduled for Mother’s Day on May 10.

Due to current medical&public concerns, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the Mother’s Day Truck Convoy. We will continue to share details&updates regarding the Convoy as more info becomes available, including a rescheduled date&new deadline for driver fundraising. — Make-A-Wish PhDeSv (@MakeAWishPHL) March 17, 2020

All wish travel plans also are postponed.

“The health and safety of the children and wish families served are at the center of all policy decisions made – and, as always, Make-A-Wish remains committed to their vision of granting the wish of every eligible child fighting a critical illness.”

This is the first year that the convoy was going to be held at Manheim Auto Auction.

In June of last year the organization announced it was seeking a new location after it was told by Burle Business Park in Lancaster that it can no longer host the event that features 450 to 600 trucks.

A new location was needed that could not only accommodate the trucks but also the carnival held on the same day that includes music, entertainment, clowns and an auction.

Thousands of people line the 26-mile convoy route to cheer. Each year about 100 current and former Wish kids sign up to ride in the trucks. Those trucks feature a banner that says, 'Wish Child on Board."

According to Make-A-Wish, they are able to grant more than 300 wishes a year and 80 percent of them involve air travel. Agency official estimate that 25 local wishes a month could be delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

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