To our Bert’s Big Adventure community,
If you’re following along with our journey, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you very much for supporting Bert’s Big Adventure. You’ve made it possible for nearly 250 Bert’s Big Adventure kiddos and their families to have the most memorable five-day, all-expenses-paid journey to Walt Disney World for the last 18 years! More important, you’ve made it possible for Bert’s Big Adventure to create this beautiful community of families through our other critical programs, like our Family Reunion Adventures, our Fairy Godparent Volunteer Program, and other charitable services.
This time of year is significant for our organization because the Bert’s Big Adventure staff is finalizing all the details of our annual five-day journey to Walt Disney World for a new group of children with terminal and chronic illnesses and their families. Unfortunately, like most events, this upcoming year is going to look a little different. Out of an abundance of caution, we’ve made the painful and tough call to postpone our 19th annual trip to Walt Disney World, which historically takes place in February.
“As a country, indeed as a world, we have all suffered greatly in 2020 from the coronavirus pandemic. There isn’t a part of the world that it hasn’t touched, and that includes our Bert’s Big Adventure family. As the medical committee of Bert’s Big Adventure, our priority and responsibility is always the health and safety of our Bert’s Big Adventure children and their families.
With that in mind, we feel that going on this type of trip would make it almost impossible to adhere to the CDC guidelines, which would, in turn, put many of the children at risk due to their immune-compromised status. Therefore, it is with great sadness that we have recommended the 19th annual trip to Walt Disney World be postponed. We do not make this decision lightly, but we feel it is in the children’s best interest and their families from a health standpoint. Hopefully, the world will return to normal soon, and we can resume our magical trips to Disney! Please be safe.” – Medical committee members, Dr. Tom McQuail, Dr. Michelle Presley, and Nurse Lisa Vogul
Our annual trip is an essential part of our mission as an organization, but the journey to Disney is only one piece of a larger puzzle for our community. In the coming months, we’re excited to plunge forward by ensuring the Bert’s Big Adventure families never feel alone. One thing we’ve heard repeatedly from Bert’s Big Adventure parents since our inception in 2002 is that they feel isolated, alone, unheard, and dismissed. Now, due to COVID-19 restrictions and the extensive measures taken to ensure the safety of our Bert’s Big Adventure kids, our families have been more isolated and alone than ever before. Those same programs that have held our community together for the last 18 years are even more critical to our families’ health.
We plan to spread the kindness of our donors and supporters directly to our 250 families through our ongoing programs that focus on creating and maintaining deep and meaningful connections. These programs include virtual and socially-distanced Family Reunion Adventures, Fairy Godparent hospital visits (daily hospital visits generously sponsored by Carter’s Charitable Foundation), and so much more.
We hope that you’ll continue to think of our Bert’s Big Adventure families and support our programs – the glue – that are preventing these fragile kids and families from navigating this pandemic alone.
We’ll be sure to keep you posted on any updates for the 19th annual journey to Walt Disney World as we continue to monitor the conditions surrounding the pandemic. If you have any questions, please reach out to Bert’s Big Adventure at info@bertsbigadventure.org. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
Thank you for your continued support, and thank you for understanding. Take care –
Bert Weiss and the Bert’s Big Adventure Team
