Wow!

Okay, I say that a lot, but what else do you say to $20,000.00??

Yeah.

That’s $20K. 20 Grand (Isn’t that a candy bar?). Twenty Thousand Dollars.

All for Make-A-Wish Foundation® of America via firstgiving.com. All thanks to the generous people in the Disney Online Community. All of you.

I’m still in awe. I’ve spent the last couple of days going over the accounting, double and triple checking all the numbers. We were a bit rushed at the end of MagicMeets to get our “big reveal” out there, and I knew a few of our numbers were a little bit off on our posters. So here’s the final breakdown:

Celebrity MagicTunes, the fun new addition to the Friday night events, collected $325 for Dream Team Project and the equal amount for Deb Wills’ Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Many thanks to Mike Scopa of AllEars.Net, Mike Newell of MouseWorldRadio.com, and Trent Schwartz of DisFriends.com for this, and for the priceless opportunity to see “Moonwalkin’ Mongello.”

Tim Devine of The Magic in Pixels donated a portion of his sales as well as the proceeds from the sales of postcards and magnets featuring the “A Dream Come True” Castle print. We sincerely thank him for the $400 donation!

WDW Today encouraged their listeners to make online donations to our page at firstgiving.com/dwtdreamteam. Their efforts raised $1637 (and an additional donation of $250 was received on Sunday, too!). Mike Newell, I can’t thank you enough for the idea, and many thanks to everyone who participated. We had donations come in from as far away as Japan and Singapore! That’s just amazing!

Our “Magic” wands sold out (with a little coaxing from Fred) by lunchtime, and no one got bonked over the head with one (that I know of anyway). All the wands, and the buttons and in-house donations made that day, added $1225 to the total! (A few onsite donations came in after our total was announced, and I had missed some tally marks on our wand sales, thus the higher amount) Our “two Katies” Kathryn & Kathleen, the teenage sales girls who gave up a weekend just to help out, deserve a big hand for their efforts. “You look like someone who could use a wand....Have a magical day!” You girls rocked!

The auction itself surpassed all our hopes, overcame all fears of a bad economy, and was incredible. We hoped we might make at least the $9000 that last year’s totals came to... maybe dreamed we’d crack 5 digits... but never did $13,667 seem like a reality! The generosity of people like Deb Wills and Steve Barrett and April Baker, who post bidding-end offered to give a matching lot to the second-highest bidder if they met the high bid, thus doubling the totals on the several lots they had contributed, was just so much above and beyond anything I could have imagined.

Then, as Beci herself said, “But wait, there’s more!” as MEI and Mouse Fan Travel brought a big check onstage for the amount of $2523.76 - contributions from 2 months of bookings through their agency. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house by this point. And then Lou announced he’d donate the balance needed to make it an even $20,000.

There’s that “Wow!” again.

We look so serious in this picture, you might think we had bad news! 

Standing on the stage as Justin Muchoney, CMO, read each total and the posters were unfurled, was surreal. Even though I had written the numbers on those posters just minutes before, it hadn’t sunk in. I was still in the “do what we have to do” mode, organizing, solving problems, keeping everything moving as smoothly as possible, and I don’t think I heard much of what was said, and I know I couldn’t look at Lou or Mike or Fred. Somebody told me later the room gave us a standing ovation. I hope all of the reactions were captured on the MagicMeets DVD.

If I actually read my cue card, my closing went something like this:

“A very big thanks to the auction team - all 20 of you who worked so hard to make this day happen: April, Janet, Lori, Lesa, Tracy, Linda, James, Valerie, Michelle, Amanda, Brian, Kellie, Kelly-with-a-y, Kathleen, Kaitlin, Kathryn, Meg, Tracy S., Sue, and Teresa. You guys are THE BEST! (and let me add a thank you to Rosemary, who came to the meet with Kathleen & Teresa and jumped right in with both feet.) Thank you to Lou. Thank you to Fred. And thank you to all of you. Together we’ve made some fantastic magic today for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Thank you!”

Don’t think I can say it any better, and the feeling remains true. Thank you.

Even though the auction is over, our fundraising efforts continue year-round, and so will this blog, so come back again soon to hear more about some of the other projects and people helping make wishes come true! 

Well, it's hard to believe it, but in the morning I'm on my way to MagicMeets!

Dream Team member Tracy came down from Massachusetts to help with transporting everything from Long Island to Pennsylvania. We've completely filled her car, plus local Team member Terry's SUV. My own Vibe (affectionately known as "The Big Gulp II") might actually have a little bit of room left - we'll see what I've forgotten to pack in the morning! This is all in addition to the boxes that Meg, Lori, and Lou took with them after Wrapping Weekend, too!

I think now come the hardest part: trying to get a few hours of sleep! The brain is still checking lists and making last-minute notes. The body, however, is ready to crash. 

I can hardly wait to see all these beautiful baskets set up, waiting for people to bid on them and take them home. There are still some items I've only seen in photos - Tim Devine's and Scott Thomas' beautiful prints, the wonderful basket from Beci Mahnken from Walt Disney Imagineering's store, Nancy Harkness's Mickey Quilt among them - that I've been waiting oh so patiently to see in person. And so many friends - old and new - that I just can't wait to see!

My husband, who has been a big help here behind the scenes, and my son won't be making the trip this year (couldn't fit them in the car!), but they've got plans to listen to and watch the live feed from the WDW Today podcast. I hope those of you who are not going to be there in person will stop by their website at wdwtoday.com and check it out. Don't forget about their drive to help the Dream Team's efforts: any donations made between 9:15 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. at our firstgiving.com fundraising page will be included in the totals for the day, and you can have your name announced on the podcast!

For everyone who is traveling to Camp Hill, have a safe trip! I am looking forward to meeting you all (both of you who read this blog anyway LOL).

I've got a date in dreamland.... zzzzzzzzzz

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.

---------------------------------

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.

Meet one of the good guys:

Mike Newell of MouseWorld Radio and Cohost of the WDW Today podcast contacted me with a wonderful idea to give people who are not attending MagicMeets a chance to be a part of the magic.

The WDW Today podcast will be broadcasting live during MagicMeets. Their live shows are a lot of fun - there's a chat room, and a live video feed, so even if you're miles away from Camp Hill, you can get a taste of MagicMeets.

Mike's idea was that we ask the WDW Today listeners to make a contribution to the Dream Team Project's fundraising efforts during the hours of the auction, and they could announce the names on the air and count the donated money in the auction total for the day.

How brilliant is that?!

So, if you're not going to be there in person, check out the next best thing at WDW Today.com.

And if you can, make a donation - any amount - on the Firstgiving.com web page for Dream Team. All donations received between 9:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on July 19th will be counted in the auction total!  Donations are secure and convenient, any major credit or debit card can be used, and the money goes to Make-A-Wish Foundation® of America. When you fill in your donation, please include your Internet community affiliation in the comment field, so that you can be thanked properly on the air, and maybe we can see which online group gets bragging rights for most donations.

For people attending MagicMeets, or those who want to see what they will be missing, check out the previews of all the auction lots now underway on the DisneyWorldTrivia.com forums. 

The Dream Team Project is really looking forward to this event and would like to thank Mike Newell for the great idea and WDW Today's help implementing it!!