A little over a week to go until it is time to pack up the cars and make our way from Long Island to Camp Hill, PA, for MagicMeets.

There are still boxes to be packed, last minute items to be wrapped, supplies to be found, press releases to write, stuff to print, details upon details upon details demanding attention. Thank goodness camp started this week, so I can put in some hours of work without interruption, but I’m still starting my mornings early and ending my days very late. And unlike Lou Mongello, I need my beauty sleep. Too many of these goodnight-at-2 good-morning-at-6 days, and I get downright ugly.

Just when I started asking myself, “Why on earth am I doing this?” I got an email from “C.” “C” had contacted me about donating some last minute items, and shared her story with me:

“I heard about MagicMeets and the auction last summer—it was the first podcast of Lou’s I listened to. My parents and sisters were in Disney for 2 weeks last summer... I was home with my 3 children (age 4 and under), dog and house sitting their homes, and my husband was in Europe (on business) for the same 2 weeks.  By the end of the first week, I was so lonely and depressed—it was the first time I had ever not been in Disney for the summer.  My mom suggested I listen to Lou’s podcast to help me not feel so lonely.  So, after fighting to get my kids to bed, I would sit each night by the computer (I didn’t own an iPod yet), and listen to his shows... the first one I figured out how to listen to was talking all about MagicMeets and the auction—I know he was interviewing a woman who was organizing it (I bet that was you!!)  It made me so happy that I called my mom and told her my idea for the baskets. I had been depressed and stressed, and the podcast—and the idea of MagicMeets—lifted my spirits... I have been happily planning for MagicMeets all year.  My sister often works with Make a Wish children and was desperate to do something to help as well. She and my mom joined me in buying things all year long and putting them in our special boxes and storing them away for this event. We’ve been delighted to be working on this.”

Wow. Talk about a powerful dose of Disney magic! Not to mention a well-timed kick to my overtired, self-pitying rear.

There’s a power in what The Dream Team Project does, that is both exhilarating and humbling. The power to inspire. The power to make a difference. The power to do good things. The power of Dreams, given wings.

We’re doing this for the Make-A-Wish Kids. But in all honesty, we do it for ourselves, too. That feeling of doing something good, something that can make a difference. It changes our lives: the sun is a little warmer, the stars a little brighter, the days and nights are more meaningful. The Make-A-Wish children will get the $5,000 or $9,000 or $12,000 or whatever it is we raise next Saturday, and it will make a difference in their lives. But we get a great reason to keep getting up in the morning out of it, too.

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Tim Devine of The Magic in Pixels has added some new products to his MagicMeets table which will benefit The Dream Team Project. He’ll be selling magnets and post card sized versions of the Castle print he donated, with all proceeds being added to the donation he will make from his sales at the meet. There will be two sizes of post cards and a limited number of magnets, so be sure to stop by his table early to purchase one or more of these items. They are a nice way to make a contribution and to take home a piece of Disney.