Delivering Dreams

When police officer Bill Sample heard about a 7-year-old boy suffering from leukemia at a Philadelphia hospital, he gave the youngster’s parents $1,900 to take their son on a trip to the mountains. There, the boy would get a chance to see snow for the first time before he died.

Since then, the Sunshine Foundation, a Feasterville, Pa., charity founded by Mr. Sample in 1976, has tried to make wishes come true for 27,000 seriously ill, handicapped, and abused children by taking them on trips and to events designed to make them feel special.

More than 3,000 kids have seen Disney World in the past 25 years, thanks to the Sunshine Foundation and its donors, mostly individuals who gave the charity $1.6-million last year. More than 14,000 other children, many of whom are members of families abroad who learned of the charity through its Web site and annual reunions of those suffering from disease, have taken group trips paid for by the charity. In an attempt to give kids thrilling memories, Sunshine Foundation has linked them with their favorite stars, including the Backstreet Boys, Will Smith, Shania Twain, and various professional wrestlers.

Besides providing youngsters with adventures, the Sunshine Foundation’s volunteer Santas delivered nearly 1,900 gifts of plane tickets and toys to children last year.

What’s more, the charity runs its own “dream village” in Florida, where kids and their families can enjoy a wheelchair-accessible swimming pool, a playground, and a citrus grove.