Yesterday May 9th 2024, I went back to Advent Health for Children to volunteer with the kiddos in the hospital. This was the first volunteer visit for me just prior to the pandemic. I have been wanting to get back to visiting the kiddos in the hospital for a while, but found the perfect timing!! May 6th 2009 was my very first volunteer visit with the hospital (Formerly Florida Hospital for Children). I wanted it to be the week of May 6th. I met with Joselyn ( from Child Life) who coordinated the most awesome visit for me. When I arrived at the hospital and parked in the normal parking garage I always parked in, I felt like I was right back where I started from. I felt at home!! The hallways to get the main lobby were so familiar!! The first visit was in the lobby area of one of the pediatric floors. The first patient (wore a Stitch shirt) was already ready to draw. Naturally, I had to draw Stitch with this patient. While we were drawing Stitch another sweet patient came down and had a Minnie Mouse shirt on. Perfect, Another incredible sign that it was a special visit!! Since we were still working on Stitch with a few more patients that came later, I quickly drew Minnie and explained how Minnie is the character I am most like and gave the young lady who loved Minnie my drawing!! We (Joselyn and I ) then went to a few individual rooms and drew with a few patients and their family member!! Walking up and down the pediatric floors brought back a ton of wonderful memories too!! One of the patient's request was Spider-Man, so I had fun fulfilling that request for a few minutes and then I wrapped up with the last patient drawing Minnie and Mickey!! The last patient had the most precious smile on her face!! It meant so much to me to see her beautiful smile before we left her room. Smiles truly bring joy to my day . To see her smile just meant this entire visit was a beautiful sign from above reminding me who I am and the beautiful people I deeply connect with!! Bringing Joy to others when they are in need of a Smile! It gives them little bit of time to disconnect from worries a patient may have!! To share this truly comes straight from my heart, I had no idea that when I was writing about my return visit to the hospital that I would be shedding wonderful, amazing tears. As soon as I remembered the last patient's smile at the end **queue the waterworks**!! LOL I needed this visit as much as the patients yesterday!! Thank you to the Debbie, Joselyn, Rachel, and all the child life team past and present!! Y'all are amazing in every way!! My heart is full of Amazing Joy!!
0 Comments
I wanted to share this day with y'all because it means so much to me. More importantly, It's the people I've met along the journey of the 20 years. I've met so many wonderful people on this particular journey who have made a huge impact on my life. I am forever grateful. There have been highs and lows as with any journey, but I always like to keep a positive outlook wherever I go and for whoever I meet along the way.
Yesterday, my current team at the Animation Experience celebrated my 20 years with me. I was even surprised by some of my leaders from my past roles within the company. All the beautiful sentiments that everyone said about me, truly touched my heart. Yes, I did need that bucket for my happy tears!! All I ever want to do in this journey and in this world is to make a difference through my art and with the people i meet on my journey. I can tell you that from the bottom of my heart, this day meant the world to me. Each person holds a special place in my heart and has helped me in each individual step along my journey. If you have been on my journey with me, I am humbled by your love, your support, your smiles, your hugs... and I'll never forget that!! I would share each of our stories here, but that would make this post way too long!! I'll be happy to reminisce with each person individually anytime you need a warm hug to the heart!! Thank you to my Disney recruiters Gregory Taylor and Donna Rowe for bringing me into the company back in the early 2000's on my college programs. Thank you to all my leaders who have been there to support and encourage me in each step in my journey!! Thank you to all my co-workers past and present that have been there to giggle and share incredible moments with. Mostly Giggle! I don't think I need to explain that one!! LOL Thank you to the guests who come every day. I love seeing your beautiful smiles each and every day!! It makes my heart happy to be there for y'all as y'all navigate your vacation. Most importantly, Thank all of you for the friendships we have created along the 20 years!! And of course Thank you to Sohni the Tiger for the beautiful piece of art, she painted for me!! She did a beautiful job on her art!! My heart is full of so much love and gratitude!! ..."A tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney... and to the talents, the dedication,and the loyalty of the entire Disney Organization that made Walt Disney's Dream come true...." I know I have told my some of my Disney journey over the years working at several of the theme parks within the Walt Disney World company. How exactly did a young girl from Decatur, Alabama fall in love with the Magic Kingdom in the first place? I had been in and out of the hospital a lot as a kid. It wasn't until I was 6 years old that I was able to finally get the chance to go experience the "Magic" that is the Magic Kingdom. I remember wearing that Minnie Mouse t-shirt as I entered into those Magical gates. If there is a character I can relate to the most, It's probably Minnie Mouse!!
I remember all those classic Disney rides we went on in the 80's, but there is one memory that I will always hold a place near and dear to my heart!! It was the Totally Minnie Revue show at Magic Kingdom. Coincidence that Minnie's name was in the title of the show, maybe? But that's not the true magical part! Of course, I loved the music especially the "That's What Friends Are For"song at the end. I love 80's music!! LOL But as I admired the pretty pink outfits the Disney Characters were sporting. Pink is one of my favorite colors. I noticed as most of the characters stayed up on the stage, suddenly Chip and Dale start walking down the steps and into the audience. Chip goes off the stage in another direction from me, but Dale comes to get me. It was totally unexpected that he would come toward my stool. Dale starts pulling me up on to the stage, then onto a stool on the stage and gave me a sweet hug. I remember Mickey and Minnie dancing around me while Dale was right beside me the whole time!! Minnie even came by to pet my nose!! It's a memory that I will never forget spending that time with my family and getting a special visit from Dale. Jump forward 14 years later in 2000, I would finally get my chance to start making magic for the many guests that come to the Most Magical Place on Earth. If you know me, I absolutely love making other people smile, laugh and creating as much magic for guests that come my way. Gosh, I didn't expect to be in tears at the end of this blog post. I've met so many incredible families and each one holds a special place in my heart!! During the 100 years of Magic celebration, Chip and Dale were my magic moment!! I'll always remember that! My mom was in tears because it was the first time she saw me really smiling and truly happy after having been in the hospital a lot and not feeling well. I hope Mickey can send a message to his and my dear friends Chip and Dale to let them know how much that moment meant to me!! Remember to always "Keep smiling, keep shining Knowing you can always count on me, for sure" A very wise, good friend and mentor wrote this exact phrase today "Put Some Beauty Back into the World Today!!" I had planned a volunteer visit to the Advent Health for Children several months ago and today was the day to go cheer up the kiddos in the hospital. I met up with some friends (Cathy and Grant) who travel all the way from Wales to volunteer with me every year. We have made this a yearly thing since 2013. We always meet up with our friend Nussi in the Child Life Department of the hospital. She is so sweet to take us around the hospital and we always have so much fun.
So our first patient we visited was a little girl who was sitting in the pediatric oncology playroom with her mom, another child life team member and a very special Advent Hospital puppet friend named Lucy. Lucy was so sweet and beautiful with brown yarn like hair in many braids, she had the 80's style bangs, big blue eyes, she was green from head to toe and wore a hospital gown with tigers all over it. The little girl was young but we had fun talking with her, Lucy and all our friends in the room. I actually drew a portrait of Lucy for the little girl( don't have the original to show, but the memories/story will last forever) and we learned all about Lucy's personality. Lucy is even an artist who drew a really cute Giraffe on her paper. Lucy loves Chocolate Chip Cookies and she even sang Grant a sweet Happy Birthday song for his upcoming birthday. I drew a Minnie Mouse in color for the little girl as well. Cathy and Grant gave the little girl a little box house with stickers and a cute stuffed animal to put in the house. The mom said she loves stickers and she did indeed as her house was covered in stickers. Anyway, it was time to say goodbye to the little girl and our new friend Lucy. We went to visit another little girl in another pediatric playroom where she was already playing doctor to her baby doll. She was very intelligent for her age and very independent. She had gauze out to wrap her baby up in bandages. She liked princesses so I drew her a Rapunzel while she was showing me her beautiful art creations. She said she loved art and has many markers to draw with. I had a pack of markers that I gave to her since her markers were already running low on ink. Besides her love for art, I can tell she was very intrigued by the machines and medical devices used in the hospital. We might have a future artistic doctor out there one day!! And then last but not least, we visited a little boy and his sweet family in his room for a few minutes. The boys of the family loved marvel superheroes, so we talked about them and the older brother loved to draw. He was showing me some of his drawings which were really good. We spent enough time to do 2 drawings for him and his family. Overall, It was a very rewarding day!! I have an absolute blast visiting the kids in the hospital for over 10 years now. My hope is that we can bring some cheer to their days. It's very rewarding when you can help turn their day around and keep their mind of being sick in the hospital by spending time with the kids. Thank you for reading my story of this visit and other visits I've had in the past!! If you know me, You all know my passion behind all of this. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for following me on this journey. Animation is something I grew up loving since I was a little girl. I watched Robin Hood often and would fall in love with the beloved characters over and over again. I enjoyed reciting those lines, as we sometimes like to do with our favorite movies. I would then watch The Lion King in the 90’s with my little brother and we would recite those lines and watch the movie over and over looking for the beloved characters. Just last week Lion King celebrated it’s 25th Anniversary!! I still can’t believe it’s been 25 years since it first released. In the coming years, I auditioned for the Flag Corps Team at Auburn University. My audition music was to “Hakuna Matata”. I enjoyed performing that little routine that my good friend Tricia Key helped me with so I could perfect my tosses… for the big day!! I got a spot on the team after that!! So many of you may already know that I was very blessed to be a part of the Animation Academy at the Disney’s Hollywood Studios until it closed July 2015. It’s heartbreaking during those moments, but it’s during those times you learn to pick yourself back up, keep learning and growing in your art on the side, and enjoy those moments you get to dance with the kiddos at Disney Junior Dance Party or hear people’s reactions as they watch the Ariel sing to the crowds. Those moments put a smile on my face.
So when an opportunity comes along to share my passion for animation, love for drawing and the legacy of the rich history of Disney Animation, you have to go for it!! Over the years, I have enjoyed learning how Walt encouraged his animators to spend time with animals to create realistic characters that we all can relate to and love today. Because let’s face it we all probably have a great Disney Character or an animated character that we can relate to and the best way we can relate to those characters is learning through life. There are characters from the more recent films I absolutely adore. I love the energy and personality of Judy Hopps from Zootopia. Anyway, All this comes straight from the heart as I look forward to joining the team at the Animation Experience at Conversation Station soon. I stay forever blessed and extremely humbled each day for opportunities that are placed before me as I continue on my animation journey and who knows create some of my own animation projects in the future!! https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2019/06/the-animation-experience-at-conservation-station-begins-july-11/ I am truly blessed to have the opportunity to spend time with the kiddos in pediatrics at the hospital. 10 years ago on this very date, May 6th, was the very first ever volunteer visit with the kids at the Florida Hospital for Children (currently known as Advent Health for Children). To celebrate this 10 year anniversary, I went straight from work today to spend about 2.5 hours with the kids in the Pediatric ER. What better way to celebrate than with the hospital that started it all. It was a fun evening as there were a lot of little kids there tonight in the ER, so that means a lots of fun kids to draw with. Jessi, the on call Child Life specialist, was amazing by helping me find some kiddos who wanted to draw with me. Thank you Nussi and Meagan for always helping me set up the visits! I kept the kids entertained in the Pediatric ER waiting area. I stay flexible to what the kids want to draw. I think I drew a good variety of characters tonight so that kept me very busy. A lot of kids created some fabulous artwork of their own while I drew something for them. I gave them stickers to put on their papers. It was fun to draw a character with the kids in the waiting area and when they went to see the Nurses and Doctor, they would surprise them with whatever character I drew for them or whatever drawing they did. Over the course of the 10 years I have many great visits and am blessed to have had many of my special friends come with me to cheer up the kids. I have met many special friends through volunteering at the hospital including the whole Child Life Team who are always welcoming each and every visit. I have also enjoyed donating many toys over the past years to the kids in the hospital during Christmas time. There are so many people to thank for attending these visits with me and many great people who have helped us at the hospital. So to all those wonderful people you know who you are and I wanted you to know I am so very grateful of your support and love over the 10 years of volunteering with the kids at the Advent Health for Children. I sit here with tears of joy on my face thinking about all the wonderful memories the kids in pediatrics and the child life team!! Here's to many more visits to cheer up the kids and a really cool future project to come!! ;)
On this special day May 1st 1989, Michael Eisner shared the sentiment that the park was “dedicated to Hollywood—not a place on a map, but a state of mind that exists wherever people dream and wonder and imagine, a place where illusion and reality are fused by technological magic. We welcome you to a Hollywood that never was—and always will be.”
I truly speak from the heart when I say this that Disney's Hollywood Studios will always have a special place in my heart. In my most recent blog post, you will see that most of my Disney journey all happened in this beautiful little park. I am a huge fan of movies and all that goes on behind the scenes of making these movies. So Yes, there's a lot of nostalgia of what the parks once offered. I remember my first role when the park was called Disney MGM Studios. I was working at the Hunchback of Notre Dame stage show, Honey I shrunk the Kids playground and the AFI Showcase in 2001. I absolutely loved memorizing all the winners of the AFI Lifetime Acheivement Award and at the time Harrison Ford was the latest winner. I knew then there are more wonderful winners of this award to come. I have made a lot of wonderful friendships not only from working this show, but also throughout my Disney Journey. It's obvious that the Magic of Disney Animation brought me to Disney and am very fortunate to have worked in that building. Of course the memories there were ever so Grand!! I love Animation with all my heart!! Through all the exciting changes this park is going through right now, it will always be a wonderful little park with a Big Heart and Big Friendships!! I still think of all the wonderful memories every day love to share these memories from time to time. Thank you Disney's Hollywood Studios for giving me so many wonderful memories and friendships. What an incredible, humbling and also emotional moment it was on January 9th 2019 at Disney's Hollywood Studios. January 11th 2019 marks my 15th Anniversary with the Walt Disney Company. Since I'm off work on January 11th, my wonderful, sweet co-workers and management team presented me with the special 15 year anniversary Cinderella Castle statue,a beautiful cake, 15 year pin and wonderful signs and cards on Wednesday the 9th!! If you know me, I'm truly touched by these sweet moments that it brings happy tears to my eyes.
It's been an incredible journey with the Disney Company for 15 years full time. I'll never forget those first experiences with the company and more importantly those first friendships made.I started out in Outdoor Foods at the Hollywood Studios and one of my very first roles was a pretzel runner (running the pretzels out to the many carts in the park). I worked in Outdoor Foods for about a year on a college program internship. I then went Full Time soon after. On my off days from work and during my college program years I would visit friends (i.e. Isaac Cropp) who worked in the Disney Feature Animation Building because like so many out there I have a strong desire to work on that special Disney Animated Film. Soon After I received my Full Time Status on January 11, 2004, I had heard about the closing of Feature Animation Florida. Your heart kind of sinks at that moment, but like always you pick yourself back up and keep going. Working in Outdoor Foods gave me so many great opportunities to learn within the Disney Company. It was an opportunity to climb out of my shell and get to know many great people along the journey. I was able to work as a General Teller for several years, working on the Fantasmic Foods Support Team was so much fun and also was able to work as a closing Coordinator for Outdoor Foods, Fantasmic and Spectacle of Dancing Lights! And Yes, This is the location where my co-workers gave me my very own nickname-Giggles!! If you know me, I love to laugh! There were so many great friendships and laughter from these first few years with the Disney Company. Thank you to all who always made me smile and laugh!! Something really cool happened in January 2008! I was able to finally get to share my love for animation and love for Art with the team at the Magic of Disney Animation Attraction. It was such a blessing to be able to meet the many guests that came through who were just as passionate as I was about Animation. I absolutely loved talking with Mushu and his friends Tom Bancroft, Chris Sanders, Pam Coats on the screen every day and of course drum roll, getting to draw with the many guests in the Animation Academy every day. I can't tell you how many great friendships/memories were formed because of that Drawing Class. So many Amazing guest moments that touched my heart. Those wonderful moments of just beginning to volunteer(draw for kids) at the hospital in 2009. Wow! you all know my passion on that subject! While at the Magic of Disney Animation Attraction, a very special moment happened where I received the Walt Disney Legacy Award in 2011. That was another emotional moment for me that tugged at the heartstrings. Of course, the attraction closed back in July of 2015. of course my heart sank in a bit after hearing this news. But once again, you pick yourself back up and keep going and I love doing so with a Big Smile on my face! That same Big Smile that Mushu the dragon first saw me with in 2008! LOL I soon after joined the wonderful Voyage of the Little Mermaid Team and the Disney Junior team!! It has been so much fun to see the many families and the little kiddos come in to see their favorite characters in both of those shows. Seeing a Smile on a kids face just makes my heart happy!! I absolutely love seeing the kiddos dance in the new Disney Junior Dance Party show. I also made some great friendships here as well. I'm learning and growing every day in whatever I do. I am constantly learning more skills to enhance my art growth every day. Just as Walt Disney has done, I look forward to sharing my own story and characters one day. It's a vision I have had for many years and hope will help many kids and who knows many adults. Anyway, Keep going, Don't give up, Be Blessed in everything you do and Don't forget to Smile and Laugh often!! ha ha I'm proud of all those moments in my Disney Career because it helped make me who I am today. So thank you to everyone of you who have been a part of my Disney Career from my Disney Recruiters Gregory Taylor and Donna Rowe, All of my Disney Managers/Coordinators, Fellow Co-workers, and the many friends and family that have been with me along the way!! I know this is a pretty lengthy story, but I hope telling some of my story will help at least one person out there to not give up and be proud of the journey that they are on. Everyone's journey is different. Enjoy your own path!! So Today 9/14/2018 marks the 6th visit that I joined forces with a very sweet and amazing couple from Wales. For about 6 years Cathy and Grant Davies have taken time out of their vacation to the United States to help me bring cheers to the kids in the Florida Hospital. As most of you know about me already, this is a huge passion project of mine. I love finding a way to give back by using some of my time and Art; and Cathy and Grant give so much of their time and sticker kits... to share with the kids in the hospital. It's such a blessing to have connected with them many years ago at Disney.
So This morning, the Florida Hospital for Children put on a big event for the kids to help raise awareness for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Our dear friend Nussi who works with us through the Child Life Department was telling us how much fun they all had at this event, so in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month our first stop was to visit the kids in the Pediatric Oncology Unit. We sat in the playroom to chat, draw with 3 sweet little kids. One little girl wanted to draw Flowers so we both agreed to make a beautiful Flower Garden putting eyes and a smile on each flower and of course the Sun as well. I sneaked in a cute Minnie Mouse for her on the paper somewhere. Hey, Minnie loves gardening it fits!! Then the kids and I had a mini drawing competition drawing Mickey Mouse. I would say the kids won that competition for sure. You should have seen the kid's drawings. They were so precious. One of the young kids was attached to his video game so I just drew him a quick sketch of Lightning McQueen. And another kid came in at the the end and as you know I love "Drawing Challenges" the kids throw at me. So I drew a Mario from Super Marios Bros for him. That was fun!! Cathy and Grant gave each of the kids a sticker kit. The little girl who loved flowers decorated her paper with so many bright and cheerful flower and butterfly stickers. I also gave one of the little boys a pencil pouch and crayons to put all his pencils and stuff in. One of the child life team members said he loves office supplies. What a coincidence so did I growing up and still do. We soon moved on to another playroom and drew with more kiddies. There was a very sweet older girl who loved Princess and the Frog because the first characters she wanted me to draw was Dr. Facilier and Ray the Firefly. I drew Ray on a separate paper. As we all know from the film, We want to make sure Dr. Facilier doesn't come close to little Ray the Firefly. Then a little boy and a little girl came in. Cathy and Grant gave the little boy stickers to play with and he decorated his sticker box with cute little minions every where. I can tell he loved minions. The sweet little girl wanted a drawing of Ariel so i drew her an Ariel. Let's just say I get to see Ariel a lot where I work at Disney, so it seems only fitting to draw Ariel for little kids who just love her. Another little girl came in from another floor but couldn't stay long because she wasn't feeling up to it. We were talking about Princesses and we came to the conclusion that she loved Ariel as well. So I drew another Ariel for her and a Prince Eric!! I talked some about the new "Ralph Breaks the Internet" movie with the kids. They were excited about it and I'm sure they will see it when it comes out! One of the Child Life team members ran the drawing of Ariel up to the patient and the family were really appreciative. Cathy and Grant's stickers are always a big hit with each kid as they get to decorate the little houses and then Cathy and Grant get to let the kids choose a plush animal to put inside the houses. It's so sweet!! I also gave a copy of the new children's book I illustrated to the Florida Hospital for Children to share with the kids sometime. I truly believe the story can help a lot of kids who may feel alone/sad in the hospital and can help cheer them up. Thank you once again Dora Henderson for creating such a lovely book. So In conclusion to my long story (BTW, thank you so much for letting me take y'all on this journey to cheering up the kiddos in the hospital). It's so rewarding once again to help put smiles on kids faces when they need it the most. It's also very fun and relaxing just to simply sit, draw and just chat with the kids and the very sweet hospital staff. The hospital staff/child life team needs a great big standing ovation for all they do every day and of course my friends Cathy and Grant need a huge standing ovation for spending time with the kids in the hospital on their trip from the U.K. What a true blessing it is, to spend time with the kids and great friend in the hospital!! Thank you again for following along with me on this journey. All the Best, Heather Worley So Today May 6th will always hold a special place in my heart because it was the day of the very first visit I took to volunteer with the kiddos in the hospital at the Florida Hospital for Children. It is a true blessing to get to share my art/animation passion with kids in need of a few smiles. I can't believe it's been 9 years since that first visit.
I thought I would share a little bit of that first visit with y'all... "I arrived at the hospital just before 2:00pm to visit the pediatric ward to meet Volunteer and Special Event Manager Meagan. Another Child Life Team Member, Megan escorted me back to the pediatric playroom to set up and prepare for the kids. I taught 4 boys and the mom of one of the boys how to draw Mickey Mouse. My good friend Loyal, pediatric chaplain, joined in on the first visit as well. I brought a stack of 242 drawings courtesy of all the Disney Artists at the Disney Hollywood Studios. Each kid got to pick out a handful of drawings to take with them to put in their room for extra cheering up. I then moved on to the Oncology playroom about 2:30pm. I met several little girls there and one boy. I had heard that a lot of the little girls liked Tinkerbell. So we went over the steps of drawing the head of Tinkerbell. Since Tink can be a more challenging character to draw, I stayed in there a little longer to go over some easier characters. At around 3pm, my fellow artist Isaac Cropp came to join in on the drawing sessions with the kiddos. Meagan went down to meet Isaac in the lobby and brought him up to meet the kiddos in the pediatric playroom. This allowed equal time to visit more kids and draw more Disney Characters. I continued to work with two girls and a boy on how to draw Minnie Mouse (one of my all time favorite characters to draw) and then went over Minnie's best friend Daisy Duck. Even the hospital staff was joining in on the fun. I even had a nurse request Grumpy be he reminded her of her husband. :) I packed up my stuff and went to join in where Isaac was teaching his mini classes in the pediatric ward. Isaac had a great group learning how to draw Pooh Bear. All the kids were intrigued in learning all of Isaac's teachings. Isaac is very talented in his art skills I must say. Isaac had drawn a few quick sketches for some of the boys in the pediatric playroom. At around 4pm, It was time to pack up the drawing materials and for the patients to head back to their hospital rooms. One of the older hospital patients rode down the elevator with us to help one of the hospital staff walk us out of the pediatric floor. The best part was leaving that hospital knowing we helped to create some smiles on some kids faces for the day. I just knew there needed to be more visits to follow after that." Now celebrating 9 years since volunteering for the first time. One of the things Meagan told me that I will always remember is that spending time with these children really does make a difference and helps them to forget all their worries while they are sick. That's so true. I know that personally because when football players and many others would come in and visit me as a child in the hospital, it helped bring a smile to my face. I want to continue to give back and keep bringing smiles to kids faces. Thank you for letting me share a bit of that first visit with y'all. This day means a lot to me!! |
CategoriesAuthorI am Heather and I would love to share my stories and art with y'all through my journey. Archives
May 2024
|