Give Kids the World

On Wednesday night for mutual we volunteered at Give Kids the World. It was amazing. I had heard of the village but had no idea what it was or what exactly they did there. Here is a quick review. Give kids the World Village is a vacation destination for families with children who suffer from life-threatening diseases. It partners with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The families are treated to an all-expenses paid vacation to Orlando, including accommodations at the village, rental car, food, tickets to all the local theme parks, and lots of love and activities at GKTW. At the village itself are over 100 villas (2 bed rooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, family room) where the families stay, two pools, a movie theater, mini-golf, ice-cream shop, carousel, castle, lounge area, and lots more that is escaping me at the moment. GKTW relies on donations and volunteers do a better part of the jobs each night. I really had an amazing time. It was of course heart breaking to see so many beautiful children suffering in such difficult circumstances, and I honestly didn't think I was going to hold myself together. But when we got there it was so wonderful to see these families enjoying their trip and having fun together. They all seemed to have escaped their difficult realities, even for just a week, and were simply making invaluable memories together. My only job, besides driving around the massive train all night, was to smile, and talk to the kids, and be excited about what they were doing. I loved that no one had an agenda other that genuinely enjoying their family. Anyway, it was really a great experience and I will be taking Eric back soon.

Bishop Ables and Rachel had cafeteria duty. They were amazing, especially because they were on their feet the whole night. This was probably the most labor intensive job of the night.

So they gave Bethany and me the assignment of driving the train around the village all night. We were responsible for picking families up and driving them to their destination. I have to say that I was totally surprised when they gave us this job. They just handed me the key and a walkie talkie and sent us off. Are you kidding? I guess when you rely on volunteers, you have to trust everyone. Fortunately we received minimal training and no one got hurt. After getting over the initial surprise of the trust offered, I really got into and had a blast.

This is the very nice man who train us on the train. I drove and Bethany was the conductor. She sat in the back with the passengers and radioed info up to me. She was also responsible for the wheelchair lift. This completely freaked her out, but she got the hang of it by the end of the night. Plus, we only had to use it two or three times, so that helped.
Steven at the carousel. He was the lone young man of the night and held his own quite nicely.
Abby and Cailyn were working in the castle when an American Idol cast off was spotted. He was touring the village and signing autographs. He was actually there to perform at "Village Idol", the activity being held for the kids that night.
This picture may help. See I wasn't making it up.

Here he is performing.
Heidi running the carousel...with her signature style, might I add.




The is the inside of the castle. Each star on the ceiling represents one family that has come to the village. The entire ceiling of the building is covered, and they have had so add additional areas to hold the new stars. There are over 80,000! Isn't it amazing to think how many families have been blessed by this amazing organization.

This is the group of us!