timberskara

On Monday and Thursday mornings, Disney characters visit the Village to spend quality time with GKTW Families. Our normal line-up is Mickey and Minnie, Belle or Mary Poppins and Goofy or Pluto. The funds that all of you are raising will provide priceless memories like these for more deserving families! While we are fortunate that in-kind donations such as tickets and transportation are provided by our Corporate Partners, we assign a dollar value of approximately $5k to make each family's dream vacation come true. This includes accommodations, meals, entertainment and more special surprises for the wish child, his/her brothers and sisters and parents. Team TPR raised nearly $40k for Coasting For Kids last year, meaning that 8 entire families enjoyed a whole week full of magical and memorable moments together thanks to TPR. Beyond happiness, these moments provide the wish child something money can't buy-- hope. We hear it constantly; this one week of "escape" for the families changes their lives forever. The children go back with a renewed sense of hope and strength to keep fighting their battle to survive. When a child is in low spirits after a particularly rough treatment, families flip through their photo albums and relive their time spent at GKTW..."it's like magical medicine," one wish child told us.

Wish families don't just get to go to the amusement parks, the parks also come to them! Our wonderful partners at SeaWorld, Universal, Disney and Nickelodeon Suites bring their friends out to the Village each week to interact with the kids in a one-on-one setting. Each Monday evening, the animal experts at Discovery Cove bring some interesting creatures for the kids to experience up-close. Armadillos look cutest when they do their roll-into-a-ball-trick The sloth is always a crowd favorite High-five to the awesome trainers at DC for packing up these special critters, driving to the Village, doing animal encounters and then transporting everything back EVERY week just to bring smiles to the faces of GKTW families.

Robb hit the nail on the head and I'll mirror his statement for everyone (not just because it was asked)-- the spirit of the event is to marathon and ride as much as possible, but bathroom breaks, water breaks and "I feel sick" breaks are encouraged. Each park also has a lunch break where the entire group will get off the ride. Your Coasting For Kids shirt serves as an indicator to the ride ops that you can come back up the exit ramp after a break and get on the next time the C4K train is in the station. Around the 5-6 hour mark, many people get drained. When I hit this wall, I think of all these kids go through on a daily basis and power through. Josh, I did the event at Knott's last year and Jaguar is easy and FUN to marathon. The coaster goes over walkways and by other rides where you can people watch and wave at passers-by...it was good times. I would recommend bringing a hoodie to tie around your waist. It's not the best fashion statement, but I could've used the extra cushioning. My riding partner and I switched every hour to even out our sore butts . Psionic Monkey, you can absolutely accept cash or checks made out to "Give Kids The World." Most checks already have the person's name/address/phone on them, but if you take cash be sure to record your donor's info. After getting an offline donation, log-in to your FirstGiving page and click on "Enter offline donation." You'll then be prompted to enter the donor's info. Once completed, the offline donation will be reflected on the thermometer on your fundraising page. All offline donations are collected at check-in on the day of the event. Because many of us will be making frequent contributions to a variety of riders' pages over the next few months, we send out the acknowledgement letters following the event. The letter will go to each of your donors (online and offline) and state the amount that they contributed overall (even if spread across multiple pages), as well as how much the event raised total. This can be used for tax purposes. One exception, if anyone makes a contribution of $100 or more to a single page, they will receive a letter within 2 weeks of when they made the donation and another one following the event sharing their total contributions to the event. You guys are awesome!

During their stay at GKTW Village, families can schedule a special tuck-in visit by either Mayor Clayton or Ms. Merry. The Claytons are close friends of mine, and I've been lucky enough to drive their special golf cart from villa to villa for their nightly rounds. It's easy to see why this is their favorite duty as Mayor and Mayoress....when we pull up, the kids are usually watching excitedly for us out the window. Mayor or Merry hops their way into the villa and is met by smiles and laughs. When it comes time for bed, the mischievous bunnies usually instigate a pillow fight or game of hide and go seek before settling down to tuck the child in. While the kids can't take their eyes off of their six-foot-rabbit friends, I usually sneak a peek at a teary-eyed Mom/Dad, smiling from ear to ear as they watch such a precious memory being made.

Canada's Wonderland info has been posted on www.coastingforkids.org! Happy Valentine's Day/Singles Awareness Day/Commercialized Holiday! Each year on February 14 we host a special breakfast for our volunteers, or "Angels" as we call them. Our volunteers range from young to old, local to international and come from all walks of life-- each donating their time for a different reason. The Village relies heavily on our army of Angels, with more than 50,000 in our system. Each week they fill between 1,400 and 1,500 shifts on property doing everything from serving meals to checking in families to stuffing envelopes. Last April we celebrated having more than 2 million volunteer hours on record. We're thought to be the largest volunteer effort at a single location (Red Cross, for example, utilizes their volunteers in thousands of locations). Assuming minimum wage, this translates to a savings of over $40 million in labor costs over the past 26 years! We have a visiting volunteer program for those TPR'ers who want to spend some time giving back on their next Orlando vacation. Shifts last about 4 hours and can be scheduled in either the morning, afternoon, or evening. Please fill out our volunteer application at least a month in advance of your trip to help us fill open shifts. XOXO

Okay, y'all. I'll be emailing those who have registered with this info as well, but let me post here first-- We just created a Fundraising Tools page where you can download resources to help you with your fundraising. My personal favorite are the thank you graphics. The intended purpose with these is for you to post them on your donor's Facebook walls (or tag them on instagram or twitter, or email them) after they contribute to your page. I did this last year just on a personal level and I swear some people donated just so I would post the graphic on their wall for all their friends to see. Good luck!

This morning I'm going to write about our Founder, Henri Landwirth. When talking with supporters or giving tours of the Village, I always touch on Henri's past-- but truthfully it isn't something I go in-depth about a whole lot. Even though it's difficult, I feel compelled to share a little bit more than usual about Henri's story with you all, because it's truly inspiring and powerful. Henri knows all too well what it is like to give up his childhood. Between the ages of 13 and 18, he spent his years in concentration camps, including Aushwitz and Mauthausen. He and his family, including his parents and his twin sister Margot, were separated almost immediately upon becoming prisoners at the start of the war. Both of his parents were killed, but remarkably Henri and Margot survived and later reunited. Henri's last moments in the camps were gut-wrenching as he was taken out of his cellar by a soldier. He knew enough German to have no trouble understanding that the guards ordered the soldiers to take him and two other prisoners into the woods to be shot. Here's an excerpt from Henri's book, Gift of Life, about the day he escaped: There's no question that his horrific childhood could've resulted in a very bitter and resentful man. But, he turned it around and ultimately has ended up giving kids what was taken from him. Like Henri, the deserving children that GKTW serves have been robbed of their childhood, but when they're on their wish trips they get the chance to simply enjoy being a kid...they get their childhood back. Henri is about to celebrate his 86th birthday on March 7, which coincides with our Founder's Day. Each year, Henri and Margot come to the Village to spend time with the families. The event is very private and low key, and each year I just sit there in awe as I watch him interact with the children, much of the time acting like a kid himself. He poses for photos and autographs books for the families, and every so often I catch a glimpse of his faded personal identification number tattooed by the Nazis on his left forearm. Thank you, Henri, for creating this amazing place! Henri Landwirth, Founder of Give Kids The World

I am over the moon excited to see what TPR members are capable of this year! I'll again be posting in here as frequently as I am able to share more about GKTW's impact and answer any questions about the event. Whether you're participating, donating or cheering on your fellow riders-- thank you to this awesome community for having a heart for this event. Today I'm going to kick things off with a family letter. Be warned it's pretty emotional, but our story is best told in the words of the families we serve: Amelia, age 6

^ Thank you for such a nice comment! It not only made my day, but I'm printing it out to put on my bulletin board at work. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to put my passion for both roller coasters and the mission of GKTW to good use for this event, but it's YOU guys that make it happen! Robb and Elissa have and continue to put in a lot of hard work and personal time and resources into making this event what it is, and for that I am very grateful. Yay TPR!

Just checking in to share how I excited I am for this year's Coasting! I am so humbled that everyone on TPR's heart is in the right place when it comes to this event and can't wait to get Team TPR back in action.

Congrats on the exciting project! I pretty much agree with all of the feedback posted so far...but wanted to throw in my (twisted) two-cents: be able to blow stuff up! Most everyone plays RCT for the challenge of coming up with a successful strategy, but haven't we all designed a death coaster before ?

I'm thrilled to share that Six Flags Over Texas has donated two of the Texas Chute Out parachutes to Give Kids The World to auction off! GKTW is again giving theme park fans the chance to bid on unique ride memorabilia for a good cause. A red parachute is available in its entirety here and pieces making up a blue parachute are also available. More of the individual pieces will be listed tomorrow, including the center-most ring which comes intact. As we all know, Texas Chute Out was one of the few remaining Intamin Parachute Jump rides, meaning this may be your only chance to own a piece of history. 100% of the purchase price of the chute and chute pieces benefits the mission of GKTW. Thank you SFOT and TPR for your support!

I received a big ole' box from the wonderful Marketing team at Cedar Point today. I can't imagine how hectic things are for them with the upcoming announcement, and yet they made time to go scout out some more awesome stuff from the demo site for GKTW to auction off! I opened the first flap and literally screamed with excitement as I saw a little section of neon orange and blue peeking through-- My co-workers first thought I had won the lottery, and then started shaking their heads at how I excited I was over an old, handmade sign. "You don't understand!" I said, trying to reassure them I wasn't crazy. I'm going to be honest, I was a little nervous to pick it up after seeing it from a distance for all those years. It was definitely a surreal moment I won't forget. Wait, there's more! I believe this "Detour" sign, which hung at the top of the stairs after the turnstile, was there even earlier...as part of the original theming-- How awesome would this be in your house? So here's your chance, TPR'ers, to buy some totally awesome, historic Cedar Point memorabilia and actually have an excuse to tell your non-coaster lovin' friends and family..."it's for charity!" There you go, totally justifiable! Thank you for your support .

Hey guys, I just posted the leftover Disaster Transport entrance sign pieces on the givekidstheworld eBay page. Each is a piece from this sign-- They are fun collector's pieces (I have mine proudly displayed on my desk at the Village!) and 100% of the purchase price benefits GKTW. Looking forward to the park's announcement on Monday!

A shout out to all of the Team TPR participants and fellow TPR members who supported the Final Dispatch event-- thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for your generosity. What a remarkable feat, raising $16k in just two weeks' time! I really enjoyed getting to meet everyone...we had a great group to give the ride a proper send-off. You guys rock!

The site is again live. I just sent out an email to all participants, but we are bumping the cut-off for donations to 2 p.m. EST. Thanks for all of your efforts and I look forward to seeing some of you on Sunday!

A space helmet? That's awesome, Joseph! Since we had our first TPR member post in here that they've registered, I'll share the event t-shirt with you guys. I'm losing control! CP is really doing this event right and there are even more surprises in store. It's going to be a lot of fun! Hope to see you there .

Thanks, Elissa! GKTW is very honored to be part of this event. It's going to be a lot of fun .

TPR Admin Edit: Scroll down to see some information from Ken about Team TPR. Anyone who wants to join Team TPR for this event, Theme Park Review will donate $25 towards your fundraising! Have fun riding! Here's our Team TPR Riders so far....Feel free to donate some $$$ through these guys! Ken Jones - http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/kenjones7/finaldispatch Joseph Cappelo* - https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/joseph-cappellojr/finaldispatch Jason Tibbets - https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/jasontibbetts/finaldispatch Todd Bills - http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/toddbills/finaldispatch Denzel Robinson - https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/zerethon/finaldispatch Jamie Miler - https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/jamiemiller/finaldispatch Stacy Gretchen - https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/stacygretchenTPR/finaldispatch Danny Lawson - http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/danny-lawson/finaldispatch Team TPR Main Page: https://www.firstgiving.com/process/teamarea/default.asp?did=1785&teamid=198132 * Donate to Joseph and he will mail you Geauga Lake stuff! Details: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1204062#p1204062 --------------------------------------------- Good afternoon, fellow TPRers, I have some exciting news. Cedar Point and Give Kids The World are partnering up for another event and we want you to be part of it! At Disaster Transport Final Dispatch: A Mission for the Kids, guests can become a part of history while helping children with life-threatening illnesses and their families make memories that last a lifetime. Participation includes complimentary all-day park admission for non-season passholders, an hour of exclusive ride time on Disaster Transport, VIP access to a private reception, a commemorative event t-shirt, a special souvenir and eligibility for the the last ride with the lights on. The top three fundraisers will also receive prizes! Click here to register! Here's what we have planned for Sunday, July 29: 9 p.m. Welcome Reception-- Enjoy light refreshments, music and a special presentation at the patio outside Disaster Transport. 10:30 - 11:30 p.m. Exclusive Ride Time-- Disaster Transport is officially closed to the public and open to all participants for ERT. 11:40 p.m. Final Lap-- Last ride with the lights on! The 50 participants who have raised the most money are guaranteed a spot. The first place fundraiser will have the privilege of choosing their seat first, followed by the second place fundraiser and so on until all seats are taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In addition to the $20 registration fee, a minimum of $50 must be raised in order to participate. Top fundraisers will be determined Friday, July 27 at Noon EST. Online registration will close Friday, July 27 at Noon EST. Onsite. day-of registration will be available for $75 and includes all-day park admission for non-season passholders, an hour of exclusive ride time on Disaster Transport, VIP access to a private reception, a commemorative event t-shirt and a special souvenir. Onsite registrants are not eligible for the Final Lap. Thank you for your ongoing support of the mission of Give Kids The World!

WOW. I am still riding a high from the weekend and seeing all these photos of TPR members from around the country, riding united for one cause is just overwhelming! Thanks to the tireless efforts of each of the Team TPR participants, the contributions and support of fellow TPR members and the unwavering dedication that Robb, Elissa and the rest of the TPR staff has shown, More than $39k has been raised by TPR for the mission of GKTW! There are no words great enough to describe how much this means, so I figured a photo may help: It's truly outstanding to see what this community is capable of and you should all be extremely proud. All in all, across the 11 parks and all the participants, nearly $114k was raised from Coasting For Kids 2012! To those riders who may still be sore or have bumps and bruises from Sunday, just remember that 6-10 hours on a coaster is nothing compared to what these kids go through and, thanks to you, so many more families will get to experience a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Central Florida and Give Kids The World. If any TPR members ever find themselves in the Orlando area in the future, please contact me at karad@gktw.org and I would be honored to show you around our amazing resort so that you can see firsthand how your efforts have made a difference. GO TEAM TPR!

This just in from CAGA: Roller Coaster: Flight Deck Registration: 9:30am-10am Event Start: 10am Event End: 5pm Meal Time and Location: 3pm-4:30pm – Picnic Pavilion Awards Ceremony time and location: 3:30pm – Picnic Pavilion Park hours: 10am-8pm You guys rock !

Lookie what came in today!

Thanks guys for your kind words. Head injuries are now officially my least favorite thing; however, my doc recently cleared me for "some coasters" so I happy to share that I'll be heading to Knott's for the event. I'm really looking forward to meeting some of you there! Last week we had a red carpet premiere for our collection of new videos that I am excited to share with you all. The first three are Public Service Announcements (PSAs) that give a general overview of GKTW: 90 second 60 second 30 second Posting one of these PSAs on your Facebook page might help you drum up some support for your fundraising pages! The last eight were made especially for our future guests, to show them what they can expect during their stay. Child actress Bailee Madison, a longtime friend of the Village, was happy to fly in and donate her talents. Check it out! Welcome Good to Know Make Yourself at Home Let's Eat So Much Fun Join the Party Tips Heading Home As of this morning, the combined total raised across all parks and all teams was $56,633! Just look at what us crazy coaster people are capable of! Truly amazing. Let's help our fellow TPR members meet their fundraising minimums and make this the best Coasting For Kids ever .

Go Team TPR! Go, go, go! Many apologies for my absence, been recovering from a concussion and sadly not at the Village much this week. A wish dad just shared with me a video from their recent wish trip: I have no words to describe how awesome this is, so please just watch it!

Hey guys, Dorney has a new Communications Manager who is in charge of the event. I am crossing my fingers we'll have details by the end of this week. Keep up the good work, everyone!