A Free Surprise Cruise - And A Charity Check

Oh, I love stories like this!

Tyrone Abram, his wife and five children were invited to a Central Florida Boys & Girls Club last month for what they were told would be a "family appreciation night" for 45 kids and their parents. Then the president of Disney Cruise Lines broke the real news: Everyone there was getting a free cruise aboard Disney's latest and largest ocean liner, the Dream.

Not only that, the Central Florida Boys & Girls Clubs also got a $175,000 check!

Disney, whenever you do it right, you do it VERY well.

Zz.

Another Make-A-Wish Comes True

Another deserving kid going to Disney World sponsored by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

On Friday, Timothy celebrated with his classmates at Hephzibah Elementary School.

The fourth-grader's sarcoma is in remission, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation is fulfilling his wish to see Disney World and Mickey Mouse, his favorite Disney character.

I've mentioned this before, but I'll mention this again. If you can spare some cash, Make-A-Wish Foundation is such a worthy cause. It doesn't cure cancer or any other diseases, but the joy and happiness that these kids get, to do what they had wished for, is just precious.

Our group of pin traders here in the Chicagoland area, The Windy City Pin Traders (WCPT), periodically rally behind one of these Make-A-Wish kid and send them things like lanyards, pins, autograph books, etc. for them to take to a Disney theme park to do pin trading, get autographs, etc. It added to their experience and got them even more excited for their trip. Our latest effort, thanks to Patti, is a kid in Canada who, if things goes well, should either already be at WDW, or had come back. I think we got a lot of pins and lanyards not only for him, but for his siblings as well who were going with him.

We hope to continue with this effort.

Zz.

Make-A-Wish Officials Troubled by False Chain e-mail

While this isn't directly about Disney, Make-A-Wish Foundation brings a lot of kids to Disney theme parks as that happens to be the most requested wish by the children. I want to highlight the despicable behavior of some creatures that dare to call themselves as "human beings" by taking advantage of the Make-A-Wish name and either produce some stupid chain mail or via some telemarketing scam.

However, Amy Bruce is a familiar name to the staff at the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Ann Arbor. A spokesman for the charity said Bruce is one of dozens of names that periodically pop up in chain letters. The spokesman said the chain letters are common enough, Make-A-Wish's national organization maintains a separate page on its a Web site, www.wish.org/about/chain_letters, about them.

"Words can not express how terrible that is," said Lapeer Superintendent Debbie Thompson. She said she's "totally disgusted" that someone would prey on people's willingness to reach out to a stricken child.

Most importantly, take note of the Make-A-Wish Foundation policy:

Make-A-Wish issued a statement earlier this month in response to complaints to its offices in Ann Arbor, Detroit and Grand Rapids from people upset over calls from telemarketers.

"I can assure the community that the Make-A-Wish Foundation is not affiliated with any telephone marketing efforts," said Susan Lerch, president and CEO of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan. "The Foundation prides itself on its outstanding reputation and it saddens me to see that others are taking advantage of that reputation."

Lerch added, "As a matter of worldwide policy, the Make-A-Wish Foundation does not engage in telephone fund-raising for several reasons, mainly because so many find it distasteful and invasive.Ê Rather, the Make-A-Wish Foundation relies entirely on individual and corporate donations."

This organization deserves all the support that it can get, and all without using the annoying telemarketing route that some "charitable organizations" seem to be resorting to. Hope you can support the local chapter of Make-A-Wish in your area.

Zz.