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Give Kids the World will re-open at 15 percent capacity, room for about 27 families. PHOTO/GIVE KIDS THE WORLD
When Give Kids the World, one of Central Florida’s most well known charities, shuttered its doors in March because of the pandemic, the fantasy village for critically ill kids became a ghost town.
Once teeming with families, staff and excitement, the grounds grew silent the day the last guests departed and Osceola County went into lockdown.
Pam Landwirth, the organization’s longtime chief executive officer and president, moved into one of the 166 villas, and she and two security guards maintained the 84-acre property for months.
“To see something that used to be just so full of life become empty, it was depressing,” she said.
She found solace in routines like tending to the coy ponds and running the appliances in the villas.
“It was strange but we had to maintain things; do things like flush toilets and run the water,” she said.
By May, Orlando’s theme parks reopened, but Give Kids the World remained closed indefinitely because of funding shortfalls and safety concerns for the sick children served by the nonprofit.
But come Jan. 17, the resort will re-open at 15 percent capacity, room for about 27 families.
The decision was made with support from the organization’s theme park partners – Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Orlando Resort and SeaWorld – and after consulting with the infectious disease experts at Nemours Children’s Hospital, which also helped devise its COVID-19 safety plan.
“Safety has always been and will always be No. 1 for us,” she said.
“We know we can provide a safe environment for all the families and know our theme park partners are taking this as seriously as we are. The timing is right,” she said.
But six months ago, the future of Give Kids the World was bleak.
In June, Landwirth had to lay off more than 80 percent of her 177-person staff – everyone from groundskeepers to the chief operating officer.
“It’s the lowest I’ve ever been in my professional career. It was heartbreaking,” she said.
About 50 employees have been hired back on a seasonal basis for “Night of a Million Lights,” a fundraiser that offers guests a stroll through the ornate grounds (trimmed with extra decorations for the holidays) through Jan. 3.
It’s a new event for Give Kids the World, which has done some major pivoting since the onset of the COVID-19 virus, Landwirth said.
“There’s absolutely no silver lining in a pandemic and when we realized the pandemic wasn’t going to be over in a couple of weeks or a couple of months, we had to think of ways to make the best of a bad situation,” she said.
The holiday event is on track to meet the organization’s $1 million goal, she said. Earlier this year, the organization allowed another nonprofit to use the grounds for several days for a training event.
“We’ve been in this place of major uncertainty so we figured the best way to predict the future was to create the future,” she said.
