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Justin Bieber Meets & Inspires Make-A-Wish Teen Before Purpose Tour Concert

By Page Mackinley
Published on: 00:27 PST, Apr 5, 2016

Justin Bieber and the Make-A-Wish Foundation go way back. Last week, their paths crossed again.

The 22-year-old superstar is currently steaming through his 114-date Purpose World Tour but made time during his recent concert stop at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona, to meet and delight Yasmine Rad, a 15-year-old blind girl who was also born with a life-threatening illness.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a worldwide non-profit organization that carries out the expressed one “wish” of children (ages 3-17) and teens with life-threatening medical conditions.

And it was Yasmine’s “wish” to meet Justin Bieber. Fox 10’s Marcy Jones interviewed the teen following her meet with the Biebs, and it’s clear he left a positive, strong impression on Rad.

Watch the interview below.

In the clip, Yasmine gushes sweetly about Justin and reveals he bought presents for her. Namely, a water-bottle, a hat, a badge, and a bracelet.

Dishing on her encounter with the superstar, Rad shared, “He gave me a little peck on the cheek over here.” When asked to described her reaction to the peck, she enthused, “Great! And, then I kinda pecked him a little too!”

When asked why she was such a huge Justin Bieber fan, Yasmine directed her reply to the heartthrob, explaining, “Because you have helped me and inspired me to keep going through all my hard struggles.” She went on, “And I wanna say, I’m glad I met you, ’cause you’re my favorite person.”

In a Pay-It-Forward moment, Yasmine offered some inspiration of her own after revealing the Canadian star “was somehow inspiring to me to keep going.” She added, “So I just wanna say to all of you people out there to, ‘Never stop trying.'”

Following the Make-A-Wish-arranged meet with Justin, snaps of him and Yasmine popped up on Rad’s Instagram account, but have seen been removed after trolls left comments.

A deleted black-and-white group picture of Bieber and Rad with two older women was captioned, “Thank you for making my dream come true @justinbieber. #makeAWish #justinBieber #az #2016.”

A more poignant shot revealed the singer cradling Rad’s head in his arms. Her since deleted note read, “I love you @justinbieber #makeawish #makeawishaz #purposetour #purposetour2016 #AZ #belieber #justinBieber (sic).”

Tweets posted at Fox 10’s Jones’ account allow glimpses of the Biebs and Yasmine’s time together. Jones said Rad has a habit of rocking from side to side when she’s nervous. Apparently, Justin reassured Yasmine by hugging her while saying, “It’s OK. You’re safe.”

Justin has worked with Make-A-Wish since 2009 and fulfilled the “wishes” of over 260 youngsters. Back in July 2014, he was given the Champ of Charity award at the Young Hollywood Awards in acknowledgment of his work with the charity and other outreach organizations. With over “260 wishes” under his belt, the singer has the highest “wish” count of any recording artist working with the foundation.

The Biebs also met fans from Make-A-Wish at his recent Fresno and San Diego tour stops and performed at the Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Saturday (April 2).

In recent weeks, Bieber has come under fire amid the handling by a third-party company of the refunds process for fans affected by his surprise canceling of meet and greets on his Purpose Tour last month.

Some gossip media outlets even accused the young singer of not caring about his fans, despite the mental health reasons he shared for canceling. Yasmine, and the thousands of children that Justin has helped through Make-A-Wish, the Pencils of Promise charity, and his many give back contributions over the years, will likely have a very different view of Bieber.

Worth noting.

[Images via Instagram]

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