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October 20, 2008

UGM is taking 10 kids from New Westminster to Disneyland on Tuesday, October 21! Joven Antolin, an outreach worker from UGM, will be posting live updates about the trip to Twitter all day long, from the tarmac at YVR to the bottom of Space Mountain.  Joven's first Twitter update was transmitted from the office in New West around noon on Monday as he gets everything set up. Click here to view UGM's Twitter feed, and tune into the excellent adventure.

Once a year, a special opportunity called "Dreams Take Flight" is made available to 150 of the Lower Mainland’s poorest kids—these are kids who know hunger, pain, abuse and poverty and are unfamiliar with things like vacations, theme parks and airplanes.

This Tuesday (Oct. 21), 150 kids will be escorted on their own plane to a fun-filled destination: Disneyland! Union Gospel Mission worker Joven Antolin is responsible for the 10 kids (age 6-10) who were invited from the Mission. This incredible one-day marathon journey was the brainchild of Air Canada employees who, from pilots to baggage people, volunteer their time to take these vulnerable children on a plane for the first time, to a magical land they’d otherwise never get to visit.The kids are given fanny packs and cameras to enjoy their day on the rides. In the early evening, they will get $25 of Disney money to spend on souvenirs, and the chance to visit Mickey Mouse at his house. In years prior, the children were given a bag full of toys from Mattel Corp plus a backpack of school supplies and an embroidered Mickey Mouse hat.

This will be the fourth year that Joven, who works at UGM in New Westminster, has made this marathon day possible (and Twitter-able) for Union Gospel Mission kids. He has found that kids who have had this opportunity are doing better in school and generally feel better about themselves. They realize that they were chosen for something incredible, and they are special enough to have the chance of a lifetime.