I would like to share with you a personal story about an experience that changed my life.
On my 10th birthday, I visited the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London where James M. Barrie willed the rights to his Peter Pan story. Earlier that day, my grandmother had taken me shopping for a birthday present – just one – even though I expected the whole store. The last thing that I wanted to do that day was tour a hospital, but when we walked in the door, I was greeted by hundreds of happy faces, smiling and laughing in spite of being ill. And there I was perfectly healthy, yet I was miserable about a toy. Their courage inspired me to action.
After my trip to London, I asked friends to make donations to a children’s hospital instead of buying me birthday presents. We raised quite a bit of birthday money that first year – and we’re still going strong today.
I don’t remember the toy I wanted to badly on my 10th birthday, but I do remember each face and each smile of every child I met that day. Knowing that I could make a difference in their lives is the best birthday present I could ever receive.
Neverland is a place where dreams are born and every day is nicely crammed between one awfully big adventure and another. The Peter Pan Birthday Club is all about an awfully big adventure. You can make a difference. Believe it!