Edd and Penny

One thing we learned very quickly was how wonderful the volunteers at GKTW are! Edd was assigned to meet us, help us with the rental car and get us on our way to GKTW. We hit it off immediately! Edd's wife Penny was there also, meeting another family who arrived on our plane as well. Since we were lucky to be sitting near the front, we were off the plane quickly, and Edd was pleased. He started an unofficial "race" to get us through the process faster than his wife!

They are both from the UK, and I really liked listening to their accents. We saw them again the next morning at breakfast, and they greeted us warmly. They were working the food line one evening for dinner, and we made sure we were in their line so we could see them again. We didn't see them again until our last dinner at GKTW, and gave them big hugs and sweet good-byes. We sure are going to miss these wonderful people. Monday morning as we are navigating the bag check line in the airport, someone said "A man wants to talk to you". We looked over, and Edd managed to find us and said good-bye one more time over the barrier. He was there picking up another family, but took the time to find us and wish us well.

Volunteers are the only way GKTW can survive. I believe in our orientation they told us that there are about 130 employees, and 85,000 volunteers who help make things work. We saw several youth groups working on the campus as their mission trip. It is amazing how these volunteers are always smiling! We also heard time and time again from workers at the Disney parks how they also volunteer at GKTW or their children volunteer at GKTW. I think they get more out of helping than we do. We are hoping in the future to be able to return and volunteer our time.