Five local kids get dream trip
Five children between the ages of seven and nine from two First Nations communities near Fort St. James were able to see their Dreams Take Flight Tuesday as they were taken on a trip of a lifetime when they visited Disneyland.
Breanna and Jersey A’Huille, Cara Michell, Troy Basil and Lucas Sam from the Nak’azdli Whut’en and Tl’azt’en Nation were given this special gift when Jessica Erickson from Nezul Be Hunuyeh Child and Family Services Society heard about the opportunity from a community member last October.
She immediately put in the request for children in the Fort. St. James area to take part in the Dreams Take Flight non-profit organization that offers those children who are medically, mentally, physically, socially or emotionally challenged a chance to have the time of their lives. Erickson said it was a financial barrier that wouldn’t allow these children the chance to have an experience like going to Disneyland.
“After I put in the request I didn’t hear back right away and I actually forgot about it until Aug. 22 when we got the email that said we were approved to send five children and one chaperone,” Erickson said. “It was a scramble to get the passports but we were all so excited about this trip for the children.”
To celebrate Dreams Take Flight Van- couver’s 25th anniversary, the organization decided to take 125 children from B.C. to Disneyland for a day on Tuesday.
The experience of having the five children go on this adventure has had a far-reaching effect.
“This has had an impact on the entire community,” Erickson said.
“We’ve all been watching Facebook for updates. For the most part we serve communities that live in poverty and I think yesterday was not only magical for the children who took part in the trip but our community members who were also following the Dreams Take Flight Facebook page who were awestruck by the entire trip. I know that these kids will remember this trip for years to come and this will be an event that will help build a foundation based on opportunity, happiness and hope.”
That is part of the Nezul Be Hunuyeh Child and Family Services Society mandate, Erickson said.
“To provide kids with a positive and strong community environment,” she added. “This event has had a ripple effect on our entire community.”
Rachel Roberts, who is a staff member from Nezul Be Hunuyeh Child and Family Services Society, was chaperone for the children. They all left Fort St. James Monday morning and flew out of Vancouver early Tuesday morning to go to California and spend Tuesday at Disneyland. All 125 children traveled together from Vancouver during the entire Dreams Take Flight experience.
The five children and Roberts landed at the Prince George airport after their whirlwind trip on Wednesday at about 2 p.m. where The Citizen caught up with them.
“Every stop we made there was another surprise for the children and everything was so well organized,” Roberts said.
Each of the children were gifted with a digital camera to record their trip, two sets of clothing and a pair of shoes, toys and a $50 gift card they could spend at the Disney store.
“Everything was taken care of for the kids and we were joined by so many other volunteers there was almost a oneto-one ratio of adults to children and that was a lot of help,” said Roberts.
“I was so happy to see the excitement light up their eyes. The whole day was just unbelievable and I’d like to thank everyone involved because it was just so awesome. The kids had such a great time and they’re still so excited about it.”
All five children agreed their favourite ride was Space Mountain. Troy especially liked the Matterhorn Bobsleds ride with the Abominable Snowman who made the ride that much more exciting, he said Cara liked Splash Mountain, too. All the children were excited to have their very own camera and were looking forward to showing their family and friends about their adventures.