A trip to Disney World is an experience of a lifetime for anyone, but for 7-year-old Reilly Stetts and his family, it was even more special.
"We ask them their dream, and try to make it come true. That's the
name of the game," said Robert E. McManigal, treasurer of the Lycoming County, Brotherhood County, USA Inc.'s Making Dreams Come True organization.
The non-profit dreammaker sent Stetts and his family to Orlando, Fla. in September for a week at the Give Kids the World Village, a resort for children with long-term or life-threatening illnesses and conditions.
The resort is run almost entirely of volunteers, offering food and ice cream villas provided by Perkins and Friendly's, a train station and a castle, among other facilities.
"I saw a dinosaur that flies," Reilly said, referring to a dinosaur miniature golf course at the resort.
Paging through photo albums of the trip, Reilly pointed out one particular dinosaur that he hit a ball up and through to have it spill out its mouth at the opposite end.
"I didn't win every game, though," he said, swinging his arms in a golf stroke.
Reilly also got to meet a few of his favorite Disney characters: Mickey, Goofy and Pluto.
"We saw Shamu - that was awesome," he said.
Reilly's experience on the safari in Animal Kingdom was scary, he said, clamping his fingers up and down on his thumb by his mouth in a snap, saying they ran up to them biting.
It also was Reilly's first time on a plane, which he said he liked seeing the birds fly beside.
"I liked being on top of clouds," he added. "It was like being in the artic."
Having seen the stars in the sky at night from a plane, he said he wondered: "How did they get up there?"
Running off to join his brothers and sister in their Loyalsock Township backyard, one would never know that he suffers from a brain tumor, which, according to his mother, Kate Griffith, he is expected to fully recover from.
While he has had surgery to aid in his recovery, it's still a continuing process, Griffith said.
"It's not something you think about when you have children," she said.
Making Dreams Come True found the family and offered a free trip to Disney World.
"We're beyond amazed about what (the organization) could do for our family," Griffith said.
It also was the first for Reilly's sister Sophie, 3; and brothers Foster, 5, and Finnegan, 18 months, to experience the thrills at Magic Kingdom.
"(I have) nothing but praise," Reilly's father John Stetts said of the organization. "(Everyone was) very hospitable - I can't say enough good things about them."
The organization funds trips for families through donations with children from ages four to 19. According to McManigal, it tries to grant a wish for at least five families each year.
After having been given so much to help bring happiness to her family, Griffith was able to give an offering back to Give Kids the World Village. After receiving extra money from the organization to buy car seats for their provided rental car, Griffith left them for future guests.
"They were very happy to have them," she said, since people ask for them while staying.
"We're really thankful," Griffith said of the trip. "(We got to) include our family in a really amazing program."
"The number one dream is Disney World," McManigal said, although the group has previously sent children to Steeler's games, hockey games and bought new computers for children.
"We get names (of candidates) through friends and family," McManigal said. "(The Stetts') are a wonderful family. It was another opportunity to put a smile on a kid's face."
