Today was a fun and bittersweet day as we finished up our eighth and final volunteer shift at Give Kids the World Village, marking approximately 25 hours of service per person and totaling over 200 hours volunteered by Moorestown Friends School this year.
We started our day by departing our house at 7:00 a.m., and arrived at the Village a few minutes later. After checking in, everyone headed to their various shifts: breakfast at Cafe Clayton, operating the carousel, and helping at both the Castle and Amberville arcade. Our shifts all finished around 10:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m., and we headed to a surprise organized for us by trip leaders Katie LuBrant and Mike Brunswick: goat yoga at Keaton’s Korral!
After goat yoga, we headed back to our house for a few minutes to regroup, then shortly departed for the Disney Springs mall, where we spent most of our afternoon. We stopped for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe and saw an indoor thunderstorm.
We returned to the Village around 6:00 p.m. to prepare for our final shift: Mayor Clayton’s Surprise Birthday Bash. Here, the Village mayor’s wife, Ms. Merry, threw a surprise birthday party for Mayor Clayton. We were so excited to see a child tell the mayor in a birthday card how much they loved Give Kids the World. The festivities were enjoyed by all, and it was a great way for us to wrap up our time at the Village.
We ended our shift around 8:45 p.m. and headed home to have some dinner. All in all, we had a great day today and look forward to our trip to Disney’s Magic Kingdom and EPCOT tomorrow. While spending time at the Village, it has been such an inspiration to see so many people, 90% of whom are volunteers, come together to truly give kids the world.