Believe in Something mAAgic

A visit to Mickey’s house, meeting all the Disney princesses, swimming with the dolphins - these were just a few of the wishes of the 31 children that took part in WishFlight 2009 – Experience Something mAAgic!

On October 2, departure and connection terminals and gates were transformed into mAAgical areas filled with wizards, magicians, fairies and castles.  Hundreds of American Airlines, American Eagle and American Airlines Federal Credit Union employees volunteered their time and talents to make the event special for each child and their family.    

For the last 13 years, the Something mAAgic Foundation has worked solely with Make-A-Wish to sponsor children for WishFlight.  However, this year the Foundation decided to expand its wish-granting efforts to include two (2) additional organizations A Special Wish and The Dream Factory.  Anne Bunger, National Director/CEO of The Dream Factory, Inc. had this to say about the WishFlight experience, “There is no way to express to you and all of your volunteers how memorable they made our first WishFlight experience.  Your volunteers made every family feel that they were the most special people in the world.  The memories they created for children from all three participating organizations will never be forgotten.”

Another addition to this year’s WishFlight experience was the use of social media.  The Something mAAgic Foundation’s Facebook page was launched about a week before the event and families and friends of the WishFlight children and employees were encouraged to “become a fan” and post their experiences.  “It was amazing to see it unfold – parents posted messages about the children being so excited to go, one of the children had his own Facebook page and he wrote to us that this was his first flight and couldn’t wait to meet everyone” said, Charlene Seon, Something mAAgic Foundation President, “posts were going up when the children left their home cities and then again when they arrived and departed their connection city, it was such a great way for the families that didn’t travel with the child, to follow the child’s trip”.  

The fun continued on Saturday when, with the help of Aramark, a party was hosted at Give Kids The World Village in Kissimmee, FL.  “This night is always so much fun for the families and the volunteers.  It gives everyone a chance to just ‘have fun’ playing carnival games, dancing, and enjoying the company of other families who are going through the same experiences” added Todd Fairbanks, Something mAAgic Foundation Interim Executive Director.