Give Kids the World
Much like Work Fest my freshman year, going on Serve Beyond Cincinnati’s trip to Give Kids the World changed my view of service trips. Prior to this experience all of the service trips I had been on had meant manual labor. I had built things with my hands, and hadn’t had much interaction with those who were benefiting from my work. Serving at the Give Kids the World Village was the opposite. We interacted with families their Wish Children from the very beginning. It was eye opening, humbling, and tons of fun.
Give Kids the World is an organization that is a resort/hotel for families of children who have had their wishes granted by Make-a-Wish. To be clearer, children whose wishes involve something in the Central Florida area (think Disney, Universal, and other places like that) come and stay at the hotel during the duration of their wish. But the Village is so much more than just a hotel. A few things on the site include 3 different carnival like rides, lots of food options, two swimming pools, and a life-sized game of Candy Land. All of the features of the Village are free for those that are staying there, adding to the joy that is the entire wish trip. For some families the Village is the highlight of their experience, not the theme parks that brought them to the Village.
Since our group only volunteered one shift per day most of my volunteer experience was in the main dining hall. I either helped serve drinks or swiped families into the dining area. Even these brief interaction-usually just a sentence or two-with the Wish families were touching and heart warming. It was amazing to see the excitement on the kid’s faces in the mornings, just waiting to leave for an amazing day at the parks. It was equally as entertaining to see their tired but gleaming faces at dinner, all decked out in their new ears or shirts or tiaras. The relief on the parent’s faces made the experience even more meaningful. You could just see how much this trip meant to them, even in their expressions.
The cherry on top of the whole volunteering experience was the shift I worked in the castle. I really struggle putting this experience into words since the whole thing just left me with a very bittersweet warm fuzzy feeling inside. Inside the castle are very meaningful rituals that make the trip so special for the family and the child. The first one is the Star Fairy who takes a mirrored star that every child decorates and hangs it on the celling. Every child that has ever been to the Village gets a star hung on the celling in the castle. Seeing all of the stars is overwhelming. On one hand it’s amazing that so many children have been helped, but on the other it is heartbreaking that so many children are in the position where they qualify for a trip to the Village. Each child and their siblings also get to make a pillow from the pillow tree. And finally, any parent that wants to come back to the Village can find their child’s star. Throughout the castle there are a few little things like a magic mirror, thrones, and a small playground that just make the whole place sparkle with smiles and laughter. The best part of working at the castle is that there was tons of interaction with families. One family came in and sat with us for 15 minutes just to take a breath and talk. We talked about where they were from, who the daughter’s favorite Disney princess was, and what us volunteers were majoring in at school. I knew that the families weren’t all that different from my own family but it was cool to finally see and have a meaningful connection with the volunteer work I was doing and those who were benefiting from it. It really made me feel like the fact that I was there mattered, to this family and to the organization.
Going to Give Kids the World was an eye-opening experience. It was the first time I had interacted with families during a volunteer experience and the first time I had ever really been up close and personal to children who are suffering from a life-threatening illness. It was equally as heartbreaking as it was eye opening. I didn’t realize how truly blessed I have been to have had good health until I saw what being a child without that blessing can look like. I also saw the tremendous amount of grace it takes to parent a child with those illnesses. Since I am at a point in my life where I am much more likely to be in the position of parent than child, I tended to place myself in a parents or older sibling’s role and I can’t even imagine how I would handle that situation. It would take all of my willpower to not break down in tears at every little step of such an overwhelmingly positive experience like a visit to the Village would be. Probably the greatest knowledge that I can take from this experience is knowing that if/when I return to Central Florida for my own trip to the theme parks Give Kids the World will be there. The volunteer coordinators were highly encouraging of us visiting again and volunteering even if it is only for one shift. I really hope that one day I’ll be able to get back down to the Village and see how it’s grown and give back to it again.
Give Kids the World is an organization that is a resort/hotel for families of children who have had their wishes granted by Make-a-Wish. To be clearer, children whose wishes involve something in the Central Florida area (think Disney, Universal, and other places like that) come and stay at the hotel during the duration of their wish. But the Village is so much more than just a hotel. A few things on the site include 3 different carnival like rides, lots of food options, two swimming pools, and a life-sized game of Candy Land. All of the features of the Village are free for those that are staying there, adding to the joy that is the entire wish trip. For some families the Village is the highlight of their experience, not the theme parks that brought them to the Village.
Since our group only volunteered one shift per day most of my volunteer experience was in the main dining hall. I either helped serve drinks or swiped families into the dining area. Even these brief interaction-usually just a sentence or two-with the Wish families were touching and heart warming. It was amazing to see the excitement on the kid’s faces in the mornings, just waiting to leave for an amazing day at the parks. It was equally as entertaining to see their tired but gleaming faces at dinner, all decked out in their new ears or shirts or tiaras. The relief on the parent’s faces made the experience even more meaningful. You could just see how much this trip meant to them, even in their expressions.
The cherry on top of the whole volunteering experience was the shift I worked in the castle. I really struggle putting this experience into words since the whole thing just left me with a very bittersweet warm fuzzy feeling inside. Inside the castle are very meaningful rituals that make the trip so special for the family and the child. The first one is the Star Fairy who takes a mirrored star that every child decorates and hangs it on the celling. Every child that has ever been to the Village gets a star hung on the celling in the castle. Seeing all of the stars is overwhelming. On one hand it’s amazing that so many children have been helped, but on the other it is heartbreaking that so many children are in the position where they qualify for a trip to the Village. Each child and their siblings also get to make a pillow from the pillow tree. And finally, any parent that wants to come back to the Village can find their child’s star. Throughout the castle there are a few little things like a magic mirror, thrones, and a small playground that just make the whole place sparkle with smiles and laughter. The best part of working at the castle is that there was tons of interaction with families. One family came in and sat with us for 15 minutes just to take a breath and talk. We talked about where they were from, who the daughter’s favorite Disney princess was, and what us volunteers were majoring in at school. I knew that the families weren’t all that different from my own family but it was cool to finally see and have a meaningful connection with the volunteer work I was doing and those who were benefiting from it. It really made me feel like the fact that I was there mattered, to this family and to the organization.
Going to Give Kids the World was an eye-opening experience. It was the first time I had interacted with families during a volunteer experience and the first time I had ever really been up close and personal to children who are suffering from a life-threatening illness. It was equally as heartbreaking as it was eye opening. I didn’t realize how truly blessed I have been to have had good health until I saw what being a child without that blessing can look like. I also saw the tremendous amount of grace it takes to parent a child with those illnesses. Since I am at a point in my life where I am much more likely to be in the position of parent than child, I tended to place myself in a parents or older sibling’s role and I can’t even imagine how I would handle that situation. It would take all of my willpower to not break down in tears at every little step of such an overwhelmingly positive experience like a visit to the Village would be. Probably the greatest knowledge that I can take from this experience is knowing that if/when I return to Central Florida for my own trip to the theme parks Give Kids the World will be there. The volunteer coordinators were highly encouraging of us visiting again and volunteering even if it is only for one shift. I really hope that one day I’ll be able to get back down to the Village and see how it’s grown and give back to it again.