Wishes For Children Foundation

Meet the other board members

Michael Nichols

Mike considers himself a native Californian although he was born in Minnesota (he was there only four weeks and his parents were California residents). He spent his formative years growing up in the South Bay city of Torrance. He attended school at North High School, El Camino College, and Long Beach State.

Mike spent four years serving in the Air Force. During his military service, he took a computer programming course by mail and found he really liked it. This course determined his career for the next thirty one years.

After leaving the Air Force, Mike completed a Control Data computer course. He began his computer career as a computer operator and was soon promoted to a programmer position. In order to expand his experience, Mike went to work for a computer consulting firm in 1975, which was the best decision of his life. While working as a consultant, he met his future wife, Patti, working at the Delaware State Division of Revenue. Mike took a permanent job in Philadelphia so he could be closer to Patti and get married.

Due to Mike having bad allergies living on the East Coast, he and Patti moved to Southern California in 1978 and bought a home in Riverside after living near Disneyland for seven months. In 1999, they moved to the Horsethief Canyon area near Lake Elsinore.

Mike and Patti have two wonderful children, now fully grown. Their son now lives in Long Beach while their daughter is living at home.

Mike continued his career in programming while the two of them raised their children. In 2003, Mike was laid off from his job of twenty four years. He decided not to re-join the corporate world and began looking for a business of his own. He chose to do something completely different and formed a retail sign company in 2005, and opened his doors in 2006.

While operating his business, Mike met Charlie Pate at an all-chambers mixer at the Storm Stadium and immediately became interested in what Charlie was doing with Wishes for Children. Mike decided at the end of 2008 to close his business and retire so he could concentrate on serving the community and helping Wishes for Children.

Mike began working as a volunteer for Wishes for Children in 2009 and later in the year was appointed to the Board of Directors. It is his desire to grant wishes for every needy child in Southwest Riverside County!

Also in 2009, Mike became a charter member of the Rotary Club of Wildomar, another avenue for community service. Mike wants to focus on these two areas of service, and others that may pop up in the future!