Wish child Megan Dean and her brother Christian enjoy some of the evening festivities at Give Kids
The World Village.
The Deans of St. Clair Shores, Michigan
For eight-year-old Megan Dean, the vacation her family spent at Give Kids The World Village this
past June was a week of firsts: she caught her first fish off the Village’s Happy Harbor dock; she
went horseback riding for the first time at Keaton’s Korral, and she took her first swim in a real, fullsized swimming pool.
“Megan uses a walker and is often in a wheelchair. At the Village, all the activities were easily
accessible to her,” says her mom, Michaele. “As with most families who have a child with physical
challenges, we’re used to stares and strange looks. But at Give Kids The World Village, there is
none of that. The attitude of everyone there is amazing—they are kind, generous, helpful and caring.
It was great for our children to see and experience such a joyful, positive environment.”
The rest of the family—Megan’s 11-year-old brother, Christian, and her dad, Christopher—enjoyed
themselves as well. The guys in particular loved playing video games in Amberville, and Megan
adored the nightly parties, including the Winter Wonderland celebration in June, complete with snow,
and Mayor Clayton’s Birthday Bash.
“She asked to be one of the children who went up on stage and danced at the Mayor’s party,”
Michaele says. “Megan loves to sing, so when the ‘Village Idol’ talent contest came around later in
the week, she felt at ease enough to get out there and perform. She generally tends to keep to
herself, and the visit to Give Kids the World did so much for her personal growth. That meant a lot to
us.”
The family also took advantage of the Holiday Inn Express Breakfast Bar in the Ice Cream Palace on
the days they spent visiting the nearby theme parks. “The breakfast was just what we needed as we
were getting ready to be out for the day—filling but not overwhelming. And since we were in the
Palace, we had ice cream along with our Express breakfast,” Michaele laughs.
The Deans have a long list of reasons for becoming a Give Kids The World Ambassador Family, she
adds. “Our visit was phenomenal, more than we ever could have imagined. ‘Thank you’ are just two
very small words. We want to share our gratitude with as many people as we can. We also want to
come back as a family and volunteer, when Megan turns 12, which is the minimum age for
volunteering at the Village.”
She cites just one more example of how Give Kids The World Village goes above and beyond.
Megan lost a tooth at dinner one evening, and Michaele went to the gift shop to purchase a “Miss
Mary” doll for the Tooth Fairy to leave overnight, but none were available.
“They told me not to worry about it, that they would take care of it,” Michaele says. “The next
morning, out on the porch of our villa in one of the rockers was a giant Minnie Mouse doll, complete
with a handwritten note from the Tooth Fairy herself. How could we not do everything possible to
support an organization like that? If the world was more like Give Kids The World Village, what a
beautiful place it would be.”