Jamie’s Dream Team makes plans for next Disney trip
By JEFF STITT
jstitt@yourmvi.com
“Mis-ka, Mou-ska, Mickey Mouse! M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E (that’s me!), M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E.”
A 14-year-old boy from Wexford who is non-verbal and has severe autism unexpectedly sang those lyrics from “The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” children’s TV show and inspired a “magical” annual charity trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
Jamie’s Dream Team, a nonprofit based in Versailles borough, is searching for 20 children who live in southwestern Pennsylvania and have severe autism or other intellectual learning disabilities to join them for that trip, which has been dubbed “Ryan’s Flight 2019.”
Over the past three years, the Dream Team has taken 109 people on a trip to “the most magical place on earth” through what Dream Team founder Jamie Holmes Ward of McKeesport describes as “the Walt Disney World extravaganza.”
“We travel with nurses, therapists and medically educated students that are studying a career in the medical field,” Jamie said. “We obtain a private charter plane that makes a very personable experience for the children and their families, so that they don’t have to worry about the fears that they face traveling with children.”
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