Boy who used Disney vacation money to help Hurricane Dorian victims gets trip to Disney World
MELBOURNE, Fla. – Happy birthday indeed!
Jermaine Bell got the surprise of a lifetime Sunday – his seventh birthday – after Mickey Mouse and Disney World cast members arrived at his Jacksonville home to thank him for helping Hurricane Dorian victims.
The boy had saved up for a year to visit Animal Kingdom in Orlando but instead used the money to help those fleeing the storm.
Disney rewarded his grand gesture with a grand gesture of its own.
As Dorian ravaged the Bahamas as a Category 5 hurricane last week, Jermaine, who was visiting his grandmother in South Carolina, bought hundreds of hot dogs, bags of chips and bottled water. Standing on the highway holding signs to get the attention of people driving out of the city, he served the food to hurricane evacuees.
'We knew Jermaine was very special': 6-year-old boy uses money saved for Disney World to help Hurricane Dorian evacuees
His story was picked up nationally.
In a video posted Monday by Disney, Jermaine, dressed in a Lion King T-shirt that reads "future king," was treated to a Lion King-themed cake, Mickey Mouse balloons and stuffed animals as Mickey "and his gang" sang "Happy Birthday."
Mickey's birthday gift to Jermaine? A VIP Disney getaway for him and his family this month.
"I wanted to go to Disney" for a long time, Jermaine says in the video.
"Never in a million years could we have imagined anything like this from him," said Jermaine's mom, Lauren Creech. "Just coming up with an idea to help someone else. ... It really does instill in him that when you do good, you know, good comes back to you."
Creech said she was extremely proud of her son, hearing many people say to him, "What a good job you've done, young man."
Jermaine's takeaway: "Be strong, and if you do good things, you will be rewarded."
The latest on Dorian: Hundreds of Bahamian refugees kicked off US-bound ferry over visa confusion
Follow Jennifer Sangalang on Twitter: @byjensangalang
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Boy who helped Hurricane Dorian victims gets trip to Disney World
