The Magic Wand October 2013
9
There have been some heart-warming stories about the children we have helped from around the world this month. We’ve also heard from fundraisers who have gone the extra mile to raise money for travel grants and Taking the Magic to the Children projects. Read on for some inspiring stories of courage and caring. This issue also includes the last set of league tables before the end of the year, so check where you’ve ranked and start working to move up by the end of 2013! Who have you helped? Days out with Magic Wand 2-3 Fundraising Stories Fantastic money-raising! 4-5 Charity Champion Focus Profile on one of our Champions 9 League Tables Where have you placed? 6-8 Inside this issue: Inside this issue: Inside this issue: Inside this issue: Magic Wand The October 2013 Page 1 Page 1 Page 1 Page 1 On 1st October 2012, 5 year old Sarah Watkins was told that she had cancer. The AML diagnosis (acute myelogenous leuke- mia) brought worries about the treatment, painful bone mar- row transplants and transfusions, and a fear that the cancer could destroy this vibrant young girl’s life. Sarah and her family lived at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto for 6 months and doctors gave her a 50/50 chance of survival. Her family were incredibly supportive. When Sarah started to lose her hair through chemotherapy, her Mum Leah decided to have her head shaved to show Sarah she was not alone. Sarah has now been in remission since February 2013 and the family are starting to rebuild their lives. Chai Lifeline Canada, a charity that supports children with life limiting illness, approached LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Toronto LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Toronto LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Toronto LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Toronto to organise a fun day out for Sarah and her little sister Elizabeth. Through Merlin’s Magic Wand, Sarah’s family were granted tickets and enjoyed a magical day out together! Leah, Sarah’s Mum said “Days like this mean so much to us and we are truly grateful to the people who make days like this possible”. “Days like this mean so much to us and we are truly grateful to the peo- ple who make days like this possible” Who have YO U helped?
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Transcript of The Magic Wand October 2013
There have been some heart-warming stories about the children we have helped from around the world this month. We’ve also heard from fundraisers who have gone the extra mile to raise money for travel grants and Taking the Magic to the Children projects. Read on for some inspiring stories of courage and caring.
This issue also includes the last set of league tables before the end of the year, so check where you’ve ranked and start working to move up by the end of 2013!
Who have you helped?
Days out with Magic Wand
2-3
Fundraising Stories
Fantastic money-raising!
4-5
Charity Champion Focus
Profile on one of our Champions
9
League Tables
Where have you placed?
6-8
Inside this issue:Inside this issue:Inside this issue:Inside this issue:
Magic Wand The
October 2013
Page 1 Page 1 Page 1 Page 1
On 1st October 2012, 5 year old Sarah Watkins was told that she had cancer. The AML diagnosis (acute myelogenous leuke-mia) brought worries about the treatment, painful bone mar-row transplants and transfusions, and a fear that the cancer could destroy this vibrant young girl’s life.
Sarah and her family lived at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto for 6 months and doctors gave her a 50/50 chance of survival. Her family were incredibly supportive. When Sarah started to lose her hair through chemotherapy, her Mum Leah decided to have her head shaved to show Sarah she was not alone.
Sarah has now been in remission since February 2013 and the family are starting to rebuild their lives. Chai Lifeline Canada, a charity that supports children with life limiting illness, approached LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Toronto LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Toronto LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Toronto LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Toronto to organise a fun day out for Sarah and her little sister
Elizabeth.
Through Merlin’s Magic Wand, Sarah’s family were granted tickets and enjoyed a magical day out together!
Leah, Sarah’s Mum said “Days like this mean so much to us and we are truly grateful to the people who make days like this possible”.
“Days like this mean so much to us
and we are truly grateful to the peo-
ple who make days like this possible”
Who have YOU helped?
Page 2
Who have YOU helped?
55 guests from Shanghai Yodak Cardiothoracic Hospital had the opportunity to visit Madame Madame Madame Madame Tussauds Shanghai Tussauds Shanghai Tussauds Shanghai Tussauds Shanghai and Shang-Shang-Shang-Shang-hai Chang Feng Ocean Worldhai Chang Feng Ocean Worldhai Chang Feng Ocean Worldhai Chang Feng Ocean World, including 20 kids from Tibet who have congenital heart dis-ease.
The children had a great day, which wouldn’t have been pos-sible without Merlin’s Magic Wand.
A terminally ill 8-year-old boy had one wish for his birthday: to celebrate at LEGOLAND Dis-LEGOLAND Dis-LEGOLAND Dis-LEGOLAND Dis-covery Center Atlantacovery Center Atlantacovery Center Atlantacovery Center Atlanta.
Davis Holland visited LEGOLAND Discovery Center Atlanta to celebrate his birthday early surrounded by family and they arranged for a special birthday party to be thrown in his honour.
Davis was escorted around the attraction and surprised with the birthday party where he was taught how to make a LEGO figure and introduced to Bertie, a LEGOLAND Discovery Center Atlanta character. Davis was thrilled to celebrate his birthday doing what he loved most, building with LEGO bricks.
Davis was born without a pulmonary artery and has 1/3 of a lung, and he has undergone surgery many times throughout his lifetime.
The Holland family had a magical day out and Davis was extremely happy building with Master Builder Joshua Bohn.
Thanks to all of the
staC that have provid-
ed special experiences
for children at their
attractions this month!
Page 3
Who have YOU helped? Merlin’s Magic Wand invited Kai and his family to experience the magic of LEGOLAND Discovery Center Dallas Fort WorthLEGOLAND Discovery Center Dallas Fort WorthLEGOLAND Discovery Center Dallas Fort WorthLEGOLAND Discovery Center Dallas Fort Worth. They opened their doors at 9:30am to Kai, a five year old boy with sen-sory processing disorder, so that he could have a head start to ex-periencing the attraction. He was given his very own brick badge, Merlin’s Magic Wand badge, and activity lanyard.
To start the day, Kai met Professor Brick-A-Brack and helped make a few LEGO bricks for the day in the factory tour. Professor Brick-A-Brack presented Kai with a personalized LEGO brick. After the fac-
tory tour, Kai and his family proceeded to Miniland where Kai was fascinated by the Airport, Cowboy Sta-dium, and Ranger Ballpark.
Next stop was some race car building in Build & Test and then he moved on to saving the princess in King-dom Quest. Once the prin-cess was safe, it was time to catch the robbers in For-est Ranger Pursuit, which turned out to be Kai’s fa-vorite part of the visit. Kai spent the rest of the day building and playing to his heart’s content.
Despite a few moments of his SPD acting up, Kai had a fantastic experience and his Mum said “I haven’t seen him this happy for this long before. He’s just so excited. It usually doesn’t last this long. It’s such a blessing to see him this excited.”
The McHugh family visited Wild Life Wild Life Wild Life Wild Life Hamilton Island Hamilton Island Hamilton Island Hamilton Island with their daughter Brooke and had a great time.
11 year old Brooke was referred to us through the Starlight Foundation and she thoroughly enjoyed having breakfast with the koalas!
6 year old Radley is currently being treated for Leukaemia. His family need-ed a great day to forget their troubles for one day, and Merlin’s Magic Wand gave them tickets to LEGOLAND Wind-LEGOLAND Wind-LEGOLAND Wind-LEGOLAND Wind-sor Resortsor Resortsor Resortsor Resort.
His Mum said, “Today has been a dream come true for Radley”.
Page 4
Fundraising Success! On 10th & 11th September a team from Warwick Castle Warwick Castle Warwick Castle Warwick Castle took on the Three Peaks Challenge!
Stacey Turner, Jules Kelly, Keith Holmes, Isabel Thomas, Natalie King and Stu Mor-ris faced many obstacles in their race to climb Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in 24 hours, which included sheep and deer causing traHc jams!
The three climbers and their amazing sup-port team completed the challenge with 7 minutes and 8 seconds to spare and raised over £800 for Merlin’s Magic Wand!
The Scottish SEA LIFE Sanc-Scottish SEA LIFE Sanc-Scottish SEA LIFE Sanc-Scottish SEA LIFE Sanc-tuary tuary tuary tuary made £421 for Merlin’s Magic Wand at their Sum-mer Pirate and Princesses Party! Well done on your hard work!
SEA LIFE Konstanz SEA LIFE Konstanz SEA LIFE Konstanz SEA LIFE Konstanz took their wheel of fortune to a local children’s hospital fun day to raise some mon-ey and speak to people about Merlin’s Magic Wand. The Fun Day had over 2,000 visitors and children loved playing the wheel of fortune! The staC from SEA LIFE Konstanz raised €300 for Merlin’s Magic Wand and entertained the children of the hospital with their mobile touch pool.
Page 5
Fundraising Success!
Fundraising Excellence
Award Winners
Congratulations to the Merlin Events Merlin Events Merlin Events Merlin Events team on a fantastic month of fundraising! They held a hugely successful bake sale and hosted a Summer Boat Party on board the London Eye Barracuda with the help and support of Food by Dish.
The English weather came up trumps for once and the Boat Party was able to cruise the length of the Thames with the roof open, giving the 150 revellers a night to remember.
With their fundraising from both events combined, they have raised a whopping £3,350.51!!
As part of the LEGO Star Wars Weekend event held at LEGO-LEGO-LEGO-LEGO-LAND Discovery Center Dallas LAND Discovery Center Dallas LAND Discovery Center Dallas LAND Discovery Center Dallas Fort WorthFort WorthFort WorthFort Worth, guests were given the opportunity to build their very own LEGO Star Wars mini-figure to place in the Dallas Fort Worth Miniland exhibit as part of the Miniland Invasion.
Over 150 guest built minifigures and they were placed among the battle scenes of droids and clone troopers taking place in down-town Dallas and Fort Worth.
The event raised $186.58 for Merlin’s Magic Wand!
The staC of the National National National National SEA LIFE Centre Birming-SEA LIFE Centre Birming-SEA LIFE Centre Birming-SEA LIFE Centre Birming-ham ham ham ham got together and dressed as pirates for Merlin’s Magic Wand! They arranged games for the guests and raised a swash-buckling £361.52
Page 6
Fundraising League Tables This table shows fundraising by Attraction Attraction Attraction Attraction as at 28th September 2013
We want to help all attractions hit their fundraising targets, so if you want your attraction higher up in the league tables, contact Sarah Ford at Merlin’s Magic Wand for advice and assistance.
You can also talk to your GM or Charity Champion.
Page 7
This table shows fundraising by Guest Guest Guest Guest as at 28th September 2013
Fundraising League Tables
Final 2013 league tables will be released at the end of the year!
Page 8
Visit League Table
This table shows visits by Attraction Attraction Attraction Attraction as at 28th September 2013. If your attraction is not featured, it means you haven’t hosted a visit yet. Get in
touch with Sarah Ford to find out how to organise a visit now!
We’ve had more visits than last year already and we have given children magical days out at more attrac-tions than ever before around the
world!
Charity Champion Focus
Page 9
Charity Champions are our unsung heroes! There is a champion at each at-Charity Champions are our unsung heroes! There is a champion at each at-Charity Champions are our unsung heroes! There is a champion at each at-Charity Champions are our unsung heroes! There is a champion at each at-traction and they cotraction and they cotraction and they cotraction and they co----ordinate all Merlin’s Magic Wand activity throughout ordinate all Merlin’s Magic Wand activity throughout ordinate all Merlin’s Magic Wand activity throughout ordinate all Merlin’s Magic Wand activity throughout their attraction and communicate their fundraising success and ideas with their attraction and communicate their fundraising success and ideas with their attraction and communicate their fundraising success and ideas with their attraction and communicate their fundraising success and ideas with the team.the team.the team.the team.
This profile highlights one of our fantastic champions This profile highlights one of our fantastic champions This profile highlights one of our fantastic champions This profile highlights one of our fantastic champions ---- we couldn’t do what we couldn’t do what we couldn’t do what we couldn’t do what we do without them!we do without them!we do without them!we do without them!
Do you know who your Charity Champion is?
Name: Name: Name: Name: Ryan Murray
Attraction: Attraction: Attraction: Attraction: LEGOLAND Windsor Resort
Job Title: Job Title: Job Title: Job Title: Restaurant Manager
What was the last event you or-What was the last event you or-What was the last event you or-What was the last event you or-ganised for MMW? ganised for MMW? ganised for MMW? ganised for MMW? Rome to Home: Arran Wilcox's epic cycle from Rome all the way back to LEGOLAND Windsor!
Where is your favourite holiday Where is your favourite holiday Where is your favourite holiday Where is your favourite holiday destination? destination? destination? destination? Cyprus - although with my Irish skin, I burn very quickly!
What is your top tip for fundraising? What is your top tip for fundraising? What is your top tip for fundraising? What is your top tip for fundraising? Maximise the exposure of the charity, so guests and employees understand what the money really does!
Describe yourself in 3 words: Describe yourself in 3 words: Describe yourself in 3 words: Describe yourself in 3 words: competitive, ambitious & comical
Who would you like to play you in a movie of your life story? Who would you like to play you in a movie of your life story? Who would you like to play you in a movie of your life story? Who would you like to play you in a movie of your life story? Leonardo Dicaprio (he's awesome in Titanic & Great Gatsby)
