K. N. O.

     Today was our last day at the Village :( We are so sad to be leaving but we definitely went out with a bang! First we volunteered in the castle again and were busy busy. We had two families come in to give their stars to Stella to be put in the sky. Multiple families came to get their pillows made from the tree and the owl, one family came in to see their star up on the ceiling in the star tower. Then we also had a family who was visiting for the day because they had stayed at the village 4 years ago and wanted to find their star on the ceiling. Below are more pictures of the outside of the castle.

 

     After the castle we helped out at their K. N. O. event which is "Kids Night Out." For this event each volunteer was partnered up with a child who was dropped off for a night out. I was partnered with an energetic 6 year old, who I absolutely loved! For the sake of the blog and confidentiality I'll name him Jake (although that isn't his real name). We started out in Amberville, where Jake and I played in the train room and outside on the porch which had little cars, boats, and helicopters to ride on. The kind that normally sit outside of stores and you pay like a quarter to ride. Jake and I had fun here, he would act all crazy on the little rides outside on the porch and I would pretend like I was so worried about him and that my heart was beating so fast with worry. He thought this was hysterical. After Amberville  everybody went over to the Gingerbread House for dinner where Mayor Clayton and his wife visited us. During dinner Jake and I had a blast sitting together, goofing off, talking about different things like what he had done that week and checking out the cool decorations in the Gingerbread House. I really loved this time with Jake, I can't even tell you what exactly we said or did at dinner but we had so much fun just hanging out together, joking around, and talking about the fact that Mayor Clayton is a bunny and that is why he doesn't talk. Jake informed me that he is not a real bunny because he is too big and this lead to a debate about whether Mayor Clayton was special because he was so big or if other bunnies are special because they are so small. After dinner we went  to Julie's Theater for the "Village Idol," which is the village's version of American Idol. Jake and I both enjoyed cheering on the other children and watching the different, acts, dances, and singing. I enjoyed this event so much and loved getting some one on one time with a child. It was such an amazing way to end my week of volunteering.

     Tomorrow I fly out and I am so sad my week at the Village is over but am so honored to have had this opportunity. I am in complete amazement of how incredibly amazing this opportunity is for the kids and their families. These families go through so much in their life, not only emotional stressors but financial ones as well. To be given this week where all of that can disappear is relief that I could not even imagine for these families. I did not see one single family who was upset, not having a good time, or not getting along this entire week. It seems as though the second they enter the village it is time for their family to be together and simply take in and enjoy this one week they have together.

Thank you to each and everyone of you who helped make this week possible and contributed to a donation of $850 dollars to this extraordinary organization!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, 

Jenny

I Scream You Scream We All Scream For Ice Cream

     On Tuesday Nicole and I volunteered in Katie's Kitchen and the Ice Cream Palace. Katie's Kitchen is a walk-up window where families can order breakfast, lunch, or dinner, the families can also call in to have the food delivered. I worked the delivery golf cart, I've never driven a golf cart before so I found it very exciting. I delivered food to many families, I loved it because sometimes the kids would get so excited when I showed up. I had two little girls in their princess dresses run out and were so excited to help me carry the food up to their villa. At another villa the kids answered the door and were so excited to see me, they invited me in and wanted to share with me all about their trip. I also liked it because it was an opportunity to really see the whole village. The village is so big that it is hard to walk around and see the whole thing, although I have seen almost all of it at this point. But it was fun to drive around and enjoy it, the weather was really nice too (temperature wise because a storm was moving in). Nicole worked the walk-up window and phone, from what it sounds like she had a blast doing this and chatting with families as they waited for their food. I unfortunately do not have any pictures of Katie's Kitchen.

After the Kitchen we walked next door to the Ice Cream Palace which has by far been mine and Nicole's  favorite place to volunteer. We were with 3 other volunteers, an older woman named Nancy who was the sweetest lady ever, and two others about the same age as us, all three of them were so much fun to work with. We also loved it for two more reasons, first the weather could not affect us inside the palace. In almost every location Nicole and I have volunteered in the weather has shut something of that location down preventing a lot of families from visiting us. Even though it was raining we still had a lot of families in and out. The last reason is because of course the families, who got so into their creative creations of smoothies and ice cream combinations giving us a challenge sometimes to understand what they really wanted.

     

Honorable mentions

     Now you may be getting the idea of how big this village is at this point, there are so many things Give Kids the World offers that a week is just not enough time to fit in each location (as far as a volunteers schedule goes). Nicole and I have had the opportunity to volunteer at almost all of the events/locations with in the village. However, there are two places I would like to share with everybody, Nicole and I stopped by each place but did not spend time volunteering in these two locations. 

     First is the Gallery of Hope, which I like to think of as Give Kids the World's very own museum. The gallery is open daily and has 4 different rooms if I am remembering correctly. The first room is a tribute to the creator of Give Kids the World, Henri Landwirth. I am actually reading a book written by Henri about his life journey, ask me in about a week more about him. One of the pictures below (if you can read), is a brief description of Henri written by John Glenn. The next room consisted of many posters, each poster represented all of the attractions within the village. The images I posted below are of the descriptions that were on some of the posters explaining how the attraction came to be. Another room was dedicated to the sponsors of Give Kids the World and the last room was filled from floor to ceiling of images of volunteers, families, and everybody else who makes the village possible. The Gallery is based off the idea of hope and everything inside of it is based on the idea of giving hope to others.

     The other location is the life sized Candy Land. One of the images above should explain the creation of the Candy Land, but in case it is hard to read here is another explanation of how it came to be. In 2006 a Hasbro employee visited the village with his son, after their stay the employee returned to Hasbro reporting the amazing experience they had at Give Kids the World (GKTW). This connection created and strengthened a relationship between Hasbro and GKTW which generated the Candy Land edition of GKTW (which I now own!). Through this connection Hasbro funded the creation of the life size Candy Land located in Matthew's Boundless Playground, named after the son of the Hasbro employee previously mentioned. Every week the children staying at the village partake in a Candy Land game where they themselves are the game pieces.

A spookin time

     On Monday Nicole and I tended to the pool area and passed out candy at the Village's Halloween party. The pool was uneventful because all we did is pass out towels at the entrance and they had to close the pool down shortly after we arrived because of a storm and did not open it back up during our shift, we did a lot of reading yesterday. I posted some pictures of the pool area, they have an awesome play area!

     After the pool we attended the Halloween celebration. Every week the village celebrates Christmas on Thursday and Halloween on Monday. Why? I really don't know, but the families have fun and that is all that matters. I had a blast during Halloween, they had different activity tables set up down their main street with candy stations between each activity table, Nicole and I both manned a candy station. Some kids were so excited they would come running up to you, scream "trick-or-treat" & "thank you," then run to the next station. I loved complimenting the kids on their different outfits, dress ups (for girls wearing their princess costume), or Halloween accessories. They loved it when you not only acknowledged something special about them but also mentioned that you thought it was pretty or cool. Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures of anything that was really going on because families can't be in pictures but I did get a picture of Nicole struggling with her cauldron of candy .

Where your wishes come true

Within Give Kids the World Village there is a castle that is said to be magical. On Sunday Nicole and I had the opportunity to witness this magic first hand. Upon checking in a child is given a small golden star, when the child brings their star to the castle they are greeted by two wonderful volunteers such as myself and Nicole. We take the children and their families over to Stella, a fairy who handles all the stars given to the children. The child writes their name on the star and places it in a chest awaking Stella who then comes and takes their star and sends it into the sky. The child watches as the chest shakes from Stella and then can watch Stella move through lights and show up in different places before she finally places the star in the sky. By the next day the star will be in the sky and the child can come back to see the star in the castle's star tower. When they come back they take the star portal (an ipad) into the star tower and follow Stella as she points out their star. Once Stella gets to the galaxy in which their star is in the portal takes a picture of their star and the child can then take a photo with their star. Also in the castle is a tree that makes pillows with a hug, a kiss, and love. An owl who lives in the tree takes the children through a story and helps the child to make a pillow, in the end their pillow that they made appears in a tree stump of the tree. The kids get so excited when they see their completed pillow that they helped the owl make. Lastly in the castle is a thrown for the princesses and knights to sit at, a table for fun arts and crafts, a wishing well with pennies for their wishes, and the inside of a sleeping tree that is lit with many sparkling lights. On the ceiling of the castle is where all of the children's stars are placed. Every child who has ever stayed at Give Kids the World Village has a star on the ceiling of the castle, many times families return for visits and are able to find their star on the ceiling. 

The galaxies within the Star Tower

The tree that creates pillows with a hug, a kiss, and love.

Inside the tree with sparkling lights.

Where the children meet Stella.

Nicole and I sitting upon the thrown.

 The next several pictures show you the stars among the ceiling. I tried to get enough pictures and angles to show you just how many stars their are. All of the sparkling and gold on the ceiling are the stars.

After helping to create magical experiences within the castle we went outside to run the carousel. This was so much fun because the kids would get so excited about which animal they wanted to ride on and then would want to ride multiple times so they could ride on each animal. Unfortunately our time here was cut short because of lightening in the area. But the short time we worked it was a lot of fun and the kids were adorable.