Give Kids the World (GKTW) is a one-of-a-kind, 79-acre storybook world where happiness inspires hope. Giant mushroom castles and snoring trees are just a few of the many magical wonders that are part of everyday life. This magical village has given over 146,000 children from all over the world that were battling life-threatening illnesses the vacation of a lifetime. GKTW continues to give children a place where their religion, social status and disease do not define who they are. GKTW is located in Kissimmee, Florida and provides families with a fully furnished villa to stay in as they venture to the Orlando theme parks with tickets provided by GKTW. All meals are provided to families and there is daily entertainment to give them the opportunity to create memories and rediscover the meaning of unconditional love free of doctors and medical terms. Special guests spend their week swimming at the Park of Dreams, riding zebras and unicorns on the Enchanted Carousel, playing mini golf at Marc’s Dino-Putt and riding JJ’s Express Train with their families and other children in the park fighting the same battle.
My family experienced the magic and enchantment of GKTW for the first time fifteen years ago. In June of 2000, my three-year-old sister Sarah was diagnosed with a form of kidney cancer called Wilms Tumor. After Sarah went through surgery and chemotherapy she made a special wish to meet Minnie Mouse. Sarah’s Make-A-Wish was delayed when I was diagnosed with the same kidney cancer six months later. After I went through surgery and completed chemotherapy my sister’s wish sent her, my mom, dad, aunt, grandma, grandpa, one-year-old brother and I on a family adventure away from doctors and hospital walls.
Our time as guests of GKTW in 2001 replaced the devastation of cancer and chemotherapy with whimsical mushroom palaces and a place to create memories. This once-in-a-lifetime vacation gifted my parents with a chance to reconnect with the other family members that came on the vacation with us. Everyone was able to enjoy each other’s company away from the stress of medical bills and medical equipment. Our transformative experience with the magical village lead my parents to look at the entire life-threatening illness experience differently and it inspired them to create a family tradition of giving back. Now, every five years my mom, dad, sister, brother and I volunteer at GKTW. This past June my family volunteered at GKTW for the third time and made a difference in not only the lives of the children staying in the village but also our own.
Volunteer Trip June 2016
I compare being a volunteer at GKTW to being like the woodland creature in a Disney movie. Assisting in the smallest ways, these little woodland creatures help the heroes destroy the villains and rediscover the strength they thought they had lost throughout their journey. The heroes in this story are the children and families who continue to laugh and enjoy life every day while cancer cells and other life-threatening illness, the microscopic villains, try to destroy their joy and laughter by turning it into darkness and pain.
Little heroes travel from around the world and join forces to defeat these microscopic villains. Heroes fight these villains by creating memories with their families and the other heroes at GKTW. As a helpful woodland creature, I heard powerful stories of survival from families that traveled from California, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, South Carolina and even England and Ireland.
Volunteers help children and families create memories by treating them like royalty and making sure that their stay at GKTW is hassle and stress-free. The village gives children a place where they are not identified by just their illness. For family members, this trip is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to not worry about money and medical bills and just enjoy the company of their child, and other family members and friends.
Halloween Bash
On our first night as volunteers, our duty was to help with the weekly Halloween party. GKTW hosts Halloween every Monday night so children who don’t normally get the chance to experience the excitement of dressing up and trick or treating can participate. Halloween is very different inside the village. Each week children are given brand new costumes, mad scientists arrive to conduct wild experiments, Storm Troopers drop by to participate in different activities and children make arts and crafts while they collect candy.
I was ecstatic to hand out light sabers during the Halloween bash. Being a hardcore Star Wars fan myself, I had a blast as I able to help children pick out their light sabers while we hung out with the Storm Troopers. It was a moving experience watching how something as simple as a pool noodle cut in a half with a little bit of tape on it sparked their imagination and changed their attitude when we called it a lightsaber. As I handed them out, I was able to talk Star Wars business with some devoted fans, which included both parents and kids. While the Halloween music was in sync with the laughter, I took a second to embrace the contagious, enthusiastic energy that was bouncing off the walls. Every child had a smile on their face as they dressed up in their new costumes and joked around with Storm Troopers. Watching how the kids lit up when their family joined in on light saber battles, arts and crafts and games filled my heart with an indescribable amount of joy.
While I was handing out lightsabers I noticed that parents of different races were engaged in conversation and children in wheelchairs were playing games with children that had oxygen tanks. Being able to see how the families and children interacted with each other during the Halloween Bash was eye opening. Race and religion wasn’t a barrier and the children’s illness didn’t prevent anyone from enjoying the moment. Parents and family members were able to relax and enjoy the Halloween bash and the company their children and other families because they were in an environment where they were accepted for who they are. Watching the children interact with each other reminded me of the time my family spent playing games with the other families staying in the village fifteen years ago.
During our stay in 2001, I was recovering from intense rounds of chemotherapy and had lost all my hair. Outside of the village, I was given funny looks by kids at school, I was bullied for not having any hair and I was often left out because I looked sickly. Inside the village, it was a different story. I made many friends and wasn’t looked at like a sick child. Children saw past my bald, sickly figure and accepted me for who I was, not what I looked like. Knowing how much that small experience in the village impacted my life then and now brought me to tears watching the children see beneath each other’s illnesses and treat each other with respect.
Being a small part of a child’s wish trip by helping them pick out their lightsaber, seeing them as children and not their illness and watching how much fun the children had with one another transformed my feelings of happiness to feelings of hope. I’m hopeful that these children will heal and grow so they can remember the kindness that still exists in the world when they don’t judge someone because of their race, religion or illness but rather by their loving, caring soul.
Gingerbread House and Towne hall
On the second and third day, my family volunteered in the Towne Hall and Gingerbread House. This life-size gingerbread house is covered in colorful lollipops and chocolate kisses. Inside the Towne Hall all the meals are served and in the Gingerbread House families gather to eat their meals.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that’s why serving breakfast is just as important as handing out lightsabers. Our second task as helpful woodland creatures was to give the superheroes the energy they needed to conquer the theme parks with their families. 
During breakfast, I was given fruit bar and coffee duty. I had fun helping children choose fruit for their breakfast as I refueled their parents with coffee. During the breakfast hours, I was able to talk with kids about what parks they were visiting that day. Watching the children’s smiles grow as they told me about their action-packed day was my favorite part of helping with breakfast.
After we had left the village for the day I thought of the people I met during our shift. Every child and parent that I aided were grateful for my help. My task was small but they were grateful that I was there to volunteer and make their experience brighter. This gratitude and kindness was something I’d never experienced working in the retail world and I quickly became addicted to the rewarding feeling of making the difference in someone else’s life.
On our third day as volunteers, we assisted with lunch. My duty as the concierge was to greet families at the front door and travel around the dining room to check in with them and make sure their lunch was going smoothly. During lunch at the Gingerbread house, I met Jane and her family. Jane, a four-year-old staying at the village came to grab lunch before they checked in for the week. After they finished their meal I said goodbye and noticed that her dad was signing what I was saying back to her. After I learned that Jane was deaf, I was ecstatic to know I could communicate with her in her language. Being able to sign has allowed me to interact with some extraordinary human beings and without knowing American Sign Language I would have missed out on this special moment to connect with Jane. I continued to sign with Jane and learned that she was most excited to go swimming in the GKTW Park of Dreams water park.
Shortly after Jane left I met Megan and her family. After talking with Megan’s mom for almost an hour, I learned that Megan and her family traveled from North Carolina and were GKTW alumni. They had stayed at the village 18 years ago and Megan and her family had come to the village to visit her star in the Castle of Miracles on their way back from a family vacation. Her unique star is located in the same spot it was 18 years ago so she can come back throughout her life to visit it. Hearing Megan’s story and listening to the hope, peace and strength that her stay at the village gave her family overwhelmed me emotion. I felt sad and cried with Megan’s mom as she told me the story of Megan’s battle with cancer but after she told me the story of her battle she told me her inspiring story of survival. I felt hope and joy when Megan’s mom told me about the strength, peace and love they discovered while they stayed at the village 18 years ago. Her story gave me more inspiration to be a volunteer because I knew I was making a difference in a wish child’s life during my time as a volunteer who was just like Megan and her family 18 years ago.
Castle of Miracles
On our final volunteer day, my final task as the helpful woodland creature was to assist heroes and their families in The Castle of Miracles. When I walked through the doors of the giant mushroom castle on our final day, I was greeted by a calming glow of happiness, an atmosphere of hope, a knight in shining armor and over 146,00 glistening stars on the ceiling. Each one of these unique gold stars represents a wish child who has roamed the enchanted grounds and experienced the magic of GKTW.
Creating a star is a once in a lifetime moment for wish children and their families. After the child decorates their star it goes in the star trunk. Children can write their name, date of visit, hometown, favorite shape or whatever their heart desires on their special star. Each star that shines brightly on the ceiling is different just like the child that creates it. Later that night Stellar the Star Fairy places it in the star tower. Once it’s been placed in the tower it’s given coordinates and the family can come back to see the star as much as they want. They can visit during their weeklong stay and can come back to visit throughout their lifetime.
During my volunteer shift, I was able to help three families make their star. Wish children were excited to consult their families about the ideas they had for their star as they sat on a little red mushroom and drew their designs. Before they placed the star in the star trunk, one family held hands and said a prayer that made my stomach drop to the floor. The family of eight thanked the lord for the special time they had and all the experiences they were able to have together and wished for more time with their wish child because they were unsure of how much time she had left. After hearing her family’s touching prayer and brought me back to the reality and made me more eager to make her experience making her star even more special and memorable for her family. I wanted to make sure that this experience is something her and her family could look back on and smile when they remember making this special star with their special wish child.
I also assisted five GKTW alumni families that had traveled across the U.S to visit their star in the Castle of Miracles. As we located their star in the tower, families re-experienced the magic that floats around inside the castle walls. A wish child’s star will never be relocated or taken down and it will always be right where they left it when they created it at the village. If the child is no longer alive, their families can return to the village and visit a little part of their wish child that will forever be in the Castle of Miracles.
My family has been back three times as volunteers to visit my sister’s star. Each time we are welcomed back to the castle by the same knight in shining armor and humble, warm, calming breeze we were embraced by 15 years ago when we experienced the magic of the village for the first time as a wish family. 
My third experience volunteering at Give Kids the World inspired me to be hopeful. Hopeful that during the struggles families may face in their future that they will remember the happy memories and magic they created together during their week away from the outside world. After collecting these experiences when I volunteered and my passion for helping children with life-threatening illness are the driving forces behind the ambition I have to get more involved with Give Kids the World.