LP Lotion: Disney Parks Family Volunteering Celebration Coverage
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Tom Staggs explains today the Disney Company answers "What Will You Celebrate?" by celebrating volunteer efforts. With Disney's "Give a Day Get a Disney Day" campaign Disney hopes to inspire 1,000,000 to volunteer. Adding up all those efforts "we could build the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty in just one day." Staggs went on to explain that volunteerism is not a singular effort it is a first step towards a change whose impact ripples. He quoted Walt Disney, "The greatest moments in life are not those that are concerned with selfish achievement but rather the things we do for other people." Disney Company VoluntEARS have carried on that legacy since its foundation over 25 years ago. They have donated over 5.5 million hours of service. Recently they have assisted with various efforts to help those impacted by the Haiti earthquake. Chairman Staggs announced that only six weeks into the program 600,000 have committed to or already performed volunteer work. Clearly a surprise to the Disney Company to be over halfway to their 1,000,000 goal in the opening weeks of the program. He expressed his appreciation to Disney's partner in the "Give a Day Get a Disney Day" effort, the HandsOn Network, a group that connects people with over 70,000 different organizations and has been a vital part of coordinating the unprecedented effort. HandsOn Network is the nation's largest volunteer network and part of the Points of Light Institute "which inspires, equips and mobilizes people to take action that can change the world" and invited Michelle Nunn, Points of Light CEO and Founder, Hands On Network to the stage.

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According to Michelle Nunn, Points of Light CEO and Founder, Hands On Network Disney's "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" is "the most creative and the largest corporate volunteer initiative our country has ever experienced." By successfully combining the magic of Disney with the spirit of volunteerism its impact has been felt at various organizations and communities across the nation. Since its inception more than 10,000 organizations have signed onto the program in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico.

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HandsOn Jacksonville, a HandsOn Network Action Center, January numbers were an example of that impact as they saw nearly 6 times the number of volunteers over the previous month. Another effort entitled Project Linus that provides handmade blankets for children who are ill, orphaned and abused will receive 60,000 blankets over the next few months thanks to the partnership with Disney and of the record 2200 volunteers for a recent HandsOn Portland activity during Martin Luther King Jr Day over half were inspired by the Disney program. Many of these volunteers have no previous experience with the volunteer organization and it is hoped that this is just the beginning for them. The hope of HandsOn Network's is that everyone realizes their power to make a difference and Michelle Nunn believes that Disney's "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" is helping make that dream come true a million times over. Nunn highlighted the blog entry of South Florida teen Olivia Valdes who gave four and half hours at the Caring Kitchen in Delray Beach. Olivia wrote "I knew I was in for an experience, but I had no idea how much meaning the occasion would bring." She went on to describe her experience that afternoon and the realization that although she was just one person, together each one of us can make a profound difference. Her story and many others like it as well as further information about HandsOn Network can be found on their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/HandsOnNetwork