A dream come true for nine little princesses

Nine shy little Cinderellas walked into Secrets Beauty Spa at The Boathouse and left as princesses, beaming with joy at Reach for a Dream‘s recent Queen for a Day event.

The fairy godmother for the day was Secrets’ Teresa Vos, who said it was such a treat for her to be able to make a difference.

“I see this day as a gift of love. We are all so busy with our own lives, sometimes we just need to take a break and take time out for someone else. For these girls this day might be one of their last special memories, so it was important to me to make it a special one,” said Vos.

Reach for a Dream’s KZN branch manager, Kerry Donkin said the Queen for a Day initiative gives those girls who have already had their dream granted something special to look forward to.

“We always try to choose spots for this event that the girls would usually never have the opportunity to go to. When we approached Theresa from Secrets, she was so eager to be part of this special day and went above and beyond helping us make this day happen.

“She sponsored the venue, catering and treatments and really made the girls feel welcome.

“Karen Landman also sent some of her beauty queens to spoil the girls and Claire’s gave us all the princess accessories for the day,” said Donkin.

The nine girls, aged between six and 15, all suffer from various life threatening illnesses and spending a couple of hours away from doctors and needles makes them feel like beautiful princesses, not just patients.

“Last year we did 450 dreams and we did not even touch the surface. We are a dream factory, always racing against the clock as we often have limited time and sometimes sadly do not make it in time.”

While they have had some extravagant wishes like meeting Bill Gates, Donkin said the biggest challenge is to make the simple dreams magical.

“We have had children list their dream as having a box of cornflakes or hugging a teddy bear, things which come as a surprise because they are so simple. This is when our thinking caps really have to work to make it not only a dream come true, but a memorable one at that. We do teddy bear handouts regularly and one little girl who was abused by her mom and had two broken legs absolutely blossomed when she got to play with Bubbles the Bear. Those moments melt my heart.”

Project co-ordination Sagri Mudley said they do a similar project for the boys called Captain Courage.

“We take the boys on adventures like zip lining and it is so rewarding to see them being introduced to new things and to watch them overcome their fears,” said Mudley.

>>  Expect to find the latest trends in Health, Wellness and Beauty in Ballito.

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