Wish upon a Tour

For children battling diseases, the Big Buses for Little Kids program run by Ambassatours Gray Line is a dream come true.

Written by: Sarah B. Hood
Published in: The Road Explorer - Fall 2008

Picture a Halifax neighbourhood on a bleak winter morning, predawn, with a cold sprinkle of snow on the ground. Inside one of the homes, a family is bundled up with suitcases ready to depart on a trip. But this is no ordinary holiday getaway. One of the children in this family is fighting a life-threatening disease, and the family is about to take the boy on a special trip to grant his wish of a lifetime made possible through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Suddenly a big shape looms up out of the cold darkness. It's a luxury motor coach equipped with plush seats, fancy fittings and movie screens, ready to whisk the whole family away to the airport like celebrities in their very own private bus. The bus is part of Big Buses for Little Kids, a project started by Dennis Campbell of Ambassatours Gray Line.

Back in 2005, Campbell was lunching with a friend. When he asked him routinely how his day had been, the friend responded that he might just have had the best day of his life because he'd been able to help Zoe, a seven-year-old girl with a life-threatening disease, to meet her idol, pop star Hilary Duff.

“At the time, we were both fathers of seven-year-old girls, and I said I wanted to help out," says Campbell. He promptly contacted the Make-A-Wish Foundation to see whether they would be interested in having a motor coach meet the girl's family to take them to the airport. "They got back to me to say Zoe's mother was right over the top about it. Usually they just give them taxi vouchers," says Campbell.

When the time came to make the trip, however, bad weather prevented Campbell from returning in time so he arranged for another company driver to pick up the family from the Children's Hospital at 6 a.m. "I got an e-mail from that driver later in the day thanking me for the sincere honour of being part of little Zoe's wish of her life, and asking me to donate his wages for the trip to the Make-A-Wish Foundation," he says.

"I thought we had something really special here. Almost all of these wishes happen early in the morning when our fleets are sitting there doing nothing, and we have a lot of drivers with big hearts. So I asked the driver, Dave, for permission to read his letter out at our next drivers' meeting, which was a big deal because I was basically asking him to let me read a letter to 60 of his peers that said he was crying like a baby. Dave said yes, and I thought 'Wow; there's a real man who would allow me to do that."

However, when Campbell read the letter to the assembled drivers, he was puzzled by their reaction or rather, their lack of it. "There was almost zero response from the group." Nonetheless, he posted a sign-up sheet at the back of the room for anyone who might be interested in helping out. Campbell pointed out to his drivers that the company could cover the costs of about half the 60 or 70 trips coming out of the Halifax area annually, and that if half the drivers could cover just one day a year, they could handle all the trips.

Based on the drivers' apparent lack of response, Campbell wasn't expecting many to sign on. However, he was wrong. "The response was unanimous," he says. "What I didn't realize was that their lack of reaction was because they were so emotionally captivated by Dave's letter. Since then, we have drivers literally coming to us and saying 'Why haven't you picked me lately?”

These days, every child in the Halifax area gets the chance to embark on his or her special trip via motor coach. "The Executive Director of the Make-A-Wish Foundation has told me that they're hearing that the bus coming to pick up the kids and their families from the hospital or from their home has actually become one of the highlights of the trips," says Campbell. "When all the neighbours come out and start waving as they leave, it just has a bit of magic to it."

In fact, for some children, that magic almost overshadows the rest of the trip. When little Baden Mercer made his trip to the Magic Kingdom with his parents, Dwayne and Beverly, and his little sister Holly on that bleak winter morning in February 2007, it was love at first sight.

“I found it very unbelievable that someone would get up in the middle of the night to bring a family on their wish trip. I found it very touching," says Beverly. "We felt like VIPs from the moment we got picked up at our home to the moment we got back.”

Often, the children get a few minutes to sit in the driver's seat (with the safety on) to honk the horn and turn the wipers on and off. Baden clearly enjoyed his experience, says Campbell, and, “As we checked him in at the airport, he looked at me and said 'Dennis, can I have your autograph?'" Campbell signed Baden's autograph book, and was just about to leave when Baden spoke up again.

"Just as I was saying goodbye to him and wishing him well on his trip, Baden said to me 'Dennis, I can't wait to see you next week when I come back and tell you all about my trip." In order to fulfill as many wishes as possible, Big Buses for Little Kids usually only provides one-way transportation.

"Baden's mother said 'Oh no, no, Baden, Dennis can't be here next week: And I said 'Oh no, Dennis will be here. I absolutely have to be here. I have to hear how Baden's trip was,'" says Campbell. When the time came, he wasn't able to reserve an executive coach, and was anxious that Baden would be disappointed with a regular bus. However, his worries were groundless.

"The moment he got aboard the coach, he was more excited. He said, 'Wow, look at all the seats!' and I thought 'My golly, it doesn't take much to please a child,'" says Campbell. "I never thought I'd meet anyone who got more excited about buses than me. I was so taken by Baden and what a beautiful little guy he is that I asked his parents if they would like us to name a bus after him." These days, a big bright red trolley bus with the name "Baden" spelled out in large letters across the front plies the streets of Halifax.

Since Big Buses for Little Kids has become such a hit in Nova Scotia, Campbell has taken the idea further afield. At a meeting of bus operators in Salt Lake City, Utah, he presented the concept at a "Best Ideas" session that is usually geared toward moneymaking innovations. "In the end, it was unanimous, and the coordinator of the session said he had never seen one idea win all the votes," says Campbell. Now, Big Buses for Little Kids is offered in many locations through Gray Line Worldwide. "So what started with a lunchtime idea has ended up being a worldwide program," says a proud Campbell.

"We didn't start this program because we wanted to get anything back, but what we have got back, I almost feel guilty about. The pride of our drivers and the feeling we have of doing good is invaluable. There's something very good about helping fulfill the lifetime wish of a child," he says.

Tour operators who are interested in becoming part of Big Buses for Little Kids can watch a video that shows the program in action on the Ambassatours website (www.ambassatours.com). Afterwards, they can contact Dennis Campbell directly at (902) 423-2352 or dcampbell@ambassatours.com to receive a page of instructions about getting started.