Part 5 of Disney’s Social Media Moms Celebration Weekend Coverage
After Guy Kawasaki finished speaking to us from inside of the American Adventure Pavilion at Epcot, we were given Hanes t-shirts with the Disney’s Social Media Moms Celebration logo on them, a sample of Starbucks new yummy VIA ready-brew coffee AND a Disney Parks Blog pin as we left to walk to our next scheduled event. When we reached the World Showplace, the room was filled with excitement! There was something BIG on the stage behind a curtain of balloons! We had been hearing buzz that we would be setting an official record for the Guinness Book of World Records but we didn’t know how and I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next!
Our first hint: our Guinness Book of World Records might have to do with Canned Goods! Hint, Hint!
Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, told us that since this program’s launch, only six weeks ago, more than 600,000 people in the US, Puerto Rico and Canada have volunteered or signed up for volunteer projects in their communities! He said, “With the launch of our ‘Give a Day, Get a Disney Day’ program, we hoped to spark something truly special but even we have been overwhelmed with the response.” This year Disney Parks is celebrating those who volunteer through the program by giving them a free one-day admission to Walt Disney World or Disneyland. Visit www.disneyparks.com for more details about the “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day” program. This program utilizes the largest volunteer network in the nation, The Points of Light Institute, which uses their HandsOn Network to connect volunteers like you and me with “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day” volunteer programs. Michelle Nunn, co-founder of HandsOn Network and CEO of Points of Light Institute, said that there are 10,000 community organizations that have already received volunteer help through Disney’s program. She said, “The level of volunteerism we have seen in the first few weeks of 2010 is tracking to new highs,” and that she and the HandsOn Network “dream for everyone to recognize their power to make a difference.”
Michelle Nunn, pictured here with Kermit The Frog and Tom Staggs, tells us that: Disney is helping us to make that dream a reality, a million times over.
And then, we learned about some of the voluntEARS’ tasks: some have been busy clearing away non-native vegetation from the wetlands of Long Beach, California and the mountain preserves in Phoenix, Arizona; voluntEARS are cleaning Atlantic Coast beaches in Brevard County and Dade County, Florida; some voluntEARing families have gathered in Michigan with paint brushes to spruce up their community center; in Georgia voluntEARS have assisted hospitalized children by setting up arts and crafts projects for them to do; and blankets have been distributed to the homeless in Central Florida during the cold spell by more voluntEARS to name just a few. There has been a lot of work done but there is so much more that can be done!
Some outstanding voluntEAR families were invited to Walt Disney World from the US, Puerto Rico and Canada. They were recognized by Staggs who told them: Today we are here to celebrate you! With each of your efforts, you make a difference!
Then, Ty Pennington appeared on stage and thanked the voluntEARS and he challenged everyone to get involved and go out and make a difference!
Ty Pennington, thanking the voluntEARS and inspiring new ones!
He called for the balloons to be raised and they floated up to the ceiling and revealed the world’s largest structure made from canned goods! It was Guinness Book of World Records HUGE! There were 115,527 packages of food in that structure. It truly was inspiring to see what can happen if everyone does just a little. When a can is donated, it might not seem like much, but this picture can remind us that if everyone does a little lots of magic can really happen!
Mickey, Pluto, Goofy and Donald Joined Ty Pennington for the big reveal!
What more than 115,000 cans and a little Disney Magic looks like. These cans will provide 70,000 meals for the needy!
To construct this sculpture, a team of Disney VoluntEARS devoted more than 500 “man hours” over a four-day period. Some interesting facts about what was used here:
- Mickey was shaped from cans of black olives
- Cans of sliced pineapple made up Pluto’s eyes
- Goofy’s face was made of Atlantic salmon containers
- Tuna cans made up Donald’s hat
- All of the characters had their pupils made from pans of popcorn
- Everything from albacore tuna and apricot halves to spaghetti were used
- Even stewed tomato and mixed vegetable cans
- You can see a time lapse video of the creation of this structure and more on the Disney Parks Blog
115,000 cans is a lot! In fact, it is SO much that if you stacked all of these goods on top of each other, the pile would be taller than the height that is one mile higher than the summit of Mt. Everest! WOW!
- Mickey is going to help a lot of families!
Those cans equal 44 tons of food! They packed it on pallets so it could be trucked to food banks in Orlando, Miami and Atlanta. The food would be paraded out of Epcot that afternoon!
The parade of food to needy families begins here!
Creative Canning
I love the details that Disney Imagineers added to the cans. They thought of everything!
The Can Do Cavalcade was led by none other than Kermit The Frog and Miss Piggy!!
1 of 14 box trucks on a mission with the Can Do Cavalcade to take food to the needy in Orlando, Miami, and Atlanta.
*Disclosure: I attended the Disney Social Media Moms conference, for which I paid I fee, but received a great trip to Walt Disney World. Disney did not tell me what to say, nor require anything from me in exchange for the benefit I received.
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