Volunteer spirit helps select boy for Disneyland trip

Page 11

Nine-year-old Joseph Stanley got to spent Oct. 23 with Mickey, Minnie and the gang

Stanley was one of 102 Edmonton children who were offered the chance to visit California's enchanted kingdom courtesy of Air Canada's Dreams Take Flight program.

The special program allows children from across Canada to travel, free of charge, to Disneyland for a day. Flights take children from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax.

Each year, service agencies across the country are asked to select children who they feel have earned the right to take the special trip. Stanley was selected by Vi Hill from Edmonton's Boyle Street Co-op.

Stanley was one of six kids picked by the co-op. He was chosen because of the volunteer work his mother, Violet, has put into the Boyle Street agency.

"It really shows that if you do good things, good things will come to you," said Violet.

She said the program has given her son the chance to see where hard work can get him.

"[The program] wants kids to know that there is something out there. The message to the kids is that if you work hard you can get somewhere," she said.

Showing off a treasure trove of goodies from the magic kingdom, Stanley listed Disneyland rides that he spent the day enjoying, but his favorite memory was of the building that greets all visitors to the world-famous amusement park.

"I saw the Walt Disney Castle and that was the best sight," said Stanley, who is the envy of his Grade 4 class mates at St. Francis of Assisi school.

Tom Hutchinson, project manager for Dreams Take Flight, said he hopes the trip stays with the kids for a long time.

"We can make a significant difference to a child's life in one day," he said.

Dreams Take Flight is a completely volunteer driven campaign, Hutchinson said.

Along with a huge list of corporate sponsors and volunteers who raised a great deal of money for the program, the airplane, its crew and chaperons for the trip all volunteered their time.

The total cost of the trip was almost $40,000.