Edmonton Journal from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • 72

Ann Landers G5 BLOCK GET Life kit IHUOLUED lifiK 427-3475 Doctor DonohueG5 PA r-'frh i-iir T7'0 T7 flight From chilly Edmonton to sunny Disneyland and back in one day Yellowknife traveller Samuel Ovayuak, 10, right, arid Mitchell Pukiqnak get in a last-minute breakfast prior to take-off on the Dreams take Flight trip, Thursday morning the dream trip of a lifetime for these kids GORDON KENT Journal Staff Writer Edmonton I ell your friends that you're going to California, and they'll probably be jealous. Tell them you're I Uvihw It I It going for less than a day, and they'll probably think you've lost your mind. But 101 children and dozens of helpers and volunteers flew off Thursday in Edmonton's pre dawn drizzle for the sunny, low-20s weather of Disneyland. They came back after midnight to the first major snow of the season. However, nobody seemed to mind spending seven hours on an airplane to snatch 10 hours of summer from winter's grip.

"It was so amazing," said Paul, who can't be identified. "I have never been on a plane before. It was so exciting." He was part in a trip organized by Dreams Take Flight, a non-profit group of Air Canada employees that runs similar flights to Disneyland every year from cities across the country The trip was put on for poor and disabled youngsters, half a dozen each from 17 social agencies (one child didn't attend). Most of them live in Edmonton and area1, but some came from much fur-ty Away. Six Yellowknife children aged 7-11 wandered in amazement from Adventureland to Fantasyland, staring at the whirling rides and the wandering Disney characters with equal amazement.

"Your eyes are THIS big," one volunteer tells 10-year-old Tony Griep after they finish the harrowing jeep ride through a haunted temple which makes up the Indiana Jones Adventure. "When they turned off the lights his voice trails off. "I'm still shaking." Thea Pukiqnak, 9, had her sights set on meeting Mickey Mouse, Aladdin and Cinderella. "He sure writes fast," she commented after a hugely pom-padoured Aladdin signed her autograph book. Jochebed Avingaq of the Nunasi who escorted the group on its Vergeline Danais, 7, of Ft Saskatchewan, was on the receiving end of a butterfly kiss by Edmonton Airport resident clown Freckles just prior to take-off ft 4 1 7500-km round-trip journey, said most of the youngsters are from isolated Northern towns.

"There's really no fairs or anything that goes to the communities, so this is a big deal. In some cases this is their first time down south." They found more adventures than the ones Disney could produce. The freeway traffic was a constant source of interest on the bus ride from the airport to Disneyland. "Last night at the hotel they were riding the escalator," said group leader Bev Whitehead. "I had to help them on.

One asked me if you had to pay to go on it." While several of the youngsters were unnerved by their initial rides one boy just wanted to go on a boat seven-year-old Tanya Roach's eyes were alive when she came off the scariest one of all. Space Mountain is a roller-coaster that screams at -si a ifi From left Anita Blaser, Jochebed Avingaq, and Tony Exhaustion sets in on the flight home from Disneyland Gnep twin around in the Mad Tea Party breakneck speed through a dark simulated galaxy, and Tanya screamed along with it. She bounced off at the end past the staggering adults, chirping happily "that was very fun, that was VERY fun, it wasn't scary at all." At the other end of the park, Paul, 14, was a little calmer as he stood in a phoney New Orleans square outside the Pirates of the Caribbean, with its robotic re-enactment of a town being pillaged. "The best thing, actually, I think was the plane ride. I have been to a lot of amusement parks, and they're really fun, but I have never been on a plane." Indeed, project director LjJ 1a Oi'C zons.

"This group is financially challenged or abused. They're the ones that most of society doesn't pick up on," he said. "The reason we're doing this is to maybe show them something different there are thousands and thousands of these kids who just need a break, somebody to give them unrestricted love, no strings attached." Karen Ramsey of the Edmonton Boys and Girls Club stood under a tree watching clowns and gypsies from the Hunchback of Notre Dame dance in the faux streets of Disneyland's Central Plaza. Tom Hutchison said that's a big draw for many of their passengers, although on the way home several people were throwing up with what is thought to be stomach flu and one tired boy had to be held in hospital overnight for observation. Dreams Take Flight supporters raised $38,000 toward the trip including $6,500 made by recycling cans and newspapers left on airplanes staff volunteered to run the flight, and donations by various sponsors included use of the Air Canada Boeing 767.

Hutchison said his group wants to encourage the kids to seek new hori She said that even one day away like this can help poor children beyond giving them the chance to spend time with positive adult role models. "They take risks. It's a risk going on Space Mountain. They come off it, they're pumped. They go home, maybe there's something they're struggling with.

They don't consciously think about Space Mountain, but they think 'I faced that As one girl said nearby as she looked over the edge of a drawbridge into the moat surrounding Sleeping Beauty's castle: "I feel really, really good, and I feel special." Kids couldn't wait to get off the airplane as they arrived at the Los Angeles airport Multitude of organizations helping kids need help too GORDON KENT Journal Staff Writer Other groups A random selection of organizations which work with youth and which could use your help: Canadian Native Friendship Centre: 479-1999 Unity Centre of Northeast Edmonton: 478-6521 Canadian National Institute for the Blind: 488-4871 Inner City Youth Housing Project: 479-1404 Girl Guides of Canada, Edmonton Area: 451-2263 Scouts Canada, Edmonton Region: 454-8561 Canadian Mental Hearth Association: 414-6300 Uncles at Large (Edmonton Area) Society: 452-5791 Edmonton Minor Hockey Association: 413-3498 Terra Meeting the Challenge of Teen Pregnancy: 465-9272 camp. Their only cost is a $25 registration fee. "It gives them a chance to get away from the concrete and asphalt of the city to a rural experience," says foundation president Reg Norby You can make a donation to the camp through the United Way or care of the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues. Call 437-2913. CONNECT SOCIETY D.EJV.F., 11342 127th St.

For about 60 young people who are deaf or hard of hearing, the Connect Society offers help, counselling and even a home. Society staff begin dealing with toddlers, trying to determine the extent of their hearing problem. "The program is aimed at the type of supports families need to learn about the impact of deafness on their family, how to develop language," says executive director Colleen Robinson. They also work with deaf parents who have deaf or hearing children, using speech and language pathologists as well as sign language users. The group also operates a pre-school.

A dozen older youngsters from outside Edmonton who attend the Alberta School for the Deaf on 113th Street found housing this year through the society's residential support program. All of them are staying with host families this year, but in the past the society has run group homes for students who prefer them. The society is always looking for volunteers with good sign-language skills. To volunteer or make a donation, call 454-9581, or you can donate through the United Way ATONEMENT HOME HEAD-START PROGRAM, 11035 92nd St. The Atonement Home is one of four members in the Edmonton Head Start committee (there are also a couple of aboriginal programs), offering disadvantaged kids aged 3fe to 5h extra help to prepare them for elementary school.

Tie three teachers and three teacher assistants run classes for 60 kids, while two social workers deal with their parents and families. The program, available to children in the Boyle-McCauley-Parkdale area, has no charge. Other programs are open in other parts of the city Parents must help in the classroom and by attending parent gatherings, says Sister Nancy Conboy a member of the Sisters of Atonement who run Atonement House. "If you also work with the family hopefully it strengthens the family so that the children will continue to have good parenting and their parents will continue to be involved in their education." To make donations of money or material (they're looking for new school supplies such as books and puzzles), or to volunteer, call 422-7263. Edmonton Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of groups in Edmonton work with kids.

They range from sports leagues to sexual assault counselling, cubs to cancer treatment, something going on for almost every child whatever their need or interest. Here are a few programs for which you can volunteer time, material or money if you want to help out: BOYSOALE CAMP FOUNDATION, co 7103 105th St. Started in the late 1940s by the federation of community leagues, the camp began to focus on children from poor families in the 1950s. It's located on 24 hectares of land beside the Sturgeon River, eight km northeast of Fort Saskatchewan. Every summer about 400 boys and girls aged 7-14 spend a week at the.