Local organization grants dream for county girl

Published 10:22 am Friday, February 6, 2015

 

NANCY WALLACE A DREAM THAT YOU WISH WILL COME TRUE: Callie Dawson Wallace, pictured here, will depart for Disney World with her family after being granted a dream by Dream Factory, a local organization that grants dreams to children 3 to 18 years old, who are chronically and critically ill.

NANCY WALLACE
A DREAM THAT YOU WISH WILL COME TRUE: Callie Dawson Wallace, pictured here, will depart for Disney World with her family after being granted a dream by Dream Factory, a local organization that grants dreams to children 3 to 18 years old, who are chronically and critically ill.

A local dream-granting organization is sending a Beaufort County Kindergartener on a much-desired vacation next week.

Dream Factory of North Carolina’s Greenville chapter is granting the dream of Callie Dawson Wallace, a Kindergartener at Bath Elementary School. Next week, the Wallace family will depart for Disney World, Callie’s dream vacation, said Nancy Wallace, Callie’s mother. The family will leave for Disney World on Feb. 13 and spend almost a week there, returning on Feb. 19. The family will stay at Give Kids the World Village, where Disney characters visit. The GKTW program also gives its participants perks during their stay like fast passes to rides and attractions, according to the GKTW website. Callie requested that she be able to visit three parks — Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios and SeaWorld — during the trip, Nancy Wallace said.

Callie Wallace was born with Spina bifida and hydrocephalus, two lifelong medical conditions that have caused her to be impaired physically, said Nancy Wallace. Through Nancy Wallace’s sister, the Wallace family heard about the organization and filled out an application for Callie’s dream to be granted.

“They accepted her application,” Nancy Wallace said. “They pretty much try to grant every child’s dream (that applies).”

Jerry Fisher, a Dream Factory board member, said the organization is volunteer-driven and obtains money to grant dreams strictly through fundraising on a local level. Through events like its annual 5k Mud Run, which is dubbed Backwoods Beast this year, the organization is able to raise money to grant local dreams. Another annual fundraiser it conducts, the Dream Factory Spread to Dream Wine Tasting and live and silent auction, makes the dream-granting process possible as well. The event is set for Saturday, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Greenville Hilton and will feature live music, auction items and other activities that help raise money for the cause, Fisher said.

The organization grants dreams for children between the ages of 3 and 18 that are chronically or critically ill. The Greenville chapter serves 29 counties in eastern North Carolina, and every dollar raised locally stays local, and over 90 percent of every dollar it raises is directly used to grant dreams to children, Fisher said.

“We don’t send our money to a national office to be sent elsewhere,” Fisher said. “We actually grant dreams at a local level from our chapter in Greenville. We control it from our own backyard.”

The organization grants every applicant’s dream as long as they qualify, Fisher said. Last year, Dream Factory granted about eight dreams to local children, each dream costing about $5,000 to $6,000. Fisher recently met Callie Wallace, the most recent dream recipient, and spoke about his admiration for her and how she carries herself through life.

“I have met her and the special part about her is she doesn’t let her condition become a limitation, and her personality and her excitement are contagious,” Fisher said. “It’s nice to be able to participate and take having a child that’s facing challenges every day and give them something that kind of gives them some extra happiness. That’s pretty special to me.”

Nancy Wallace spoke about her reaction to Callie’s dream being granted, saying she is happy for her daughter, who frequently asks when the Wallace family will depart for her trip.

“Oh my gosh, she asks me every morning if today is the day we leave,” Nancy Wallace said. “She is super excited. She is really looking forward to it. I think it’s amazing that people take their time to raise money to send kids with things that they were born with that they can’t help and they give them something magical to experience. I’ve heard about others going down (to GKTW), and they say it’s the most amazing place for a child to experience. I look forward to going down and spending that time with her. They (siblings and Callie) are all excited. We look (Disney World) up online and talk about what we want to do. They are just excited, but Callie Dawson reminds them that this is her time. It’s not about them.”

For more information about Dream Factory, visit dreamfactoryinc.org. For tickets and sponsorship information for this weekend’s event, contact Allison Clary, president of Dream Factory North Carolina’s Greenville chapter, at 910-269-1780 or email at designbyallison@hotmail.com or contact Rick Hamilton at 252-714-7425 or email at rickhamilton2@yahoo.com.