Davy Autry, a senior capital project engineer at International Paper, and a long time member of our River Region Council, has a very personal connection to Magic Moments. His son, Caleb, received a Magic Moment almost 20 years ago. For the past 15 years, he’s been involved with the organization as a Magic Maker.
“I spent many hours in Children’s Hospital watching other children, as well as, my own. I often wondered how I could make a difference in their lives,” Davy said. “My son received his magic moment and then we got involved with Family Camp. I saw that Magic Moments made a difference for my son and our whole family. I saw the smiles on other children’s faces. I realized that this was a way that I could make a difference.”
“My favorite Magic Moments story has always been to share about our own experience. My son chose to go to Disney World. Of course, this is really a trip to all the theme parks in Orlando. So many times we had to leave our daughter behind to seek help for my son, but when we left for this trip, she got to go too. We stayed at Give Kids the World, which could be a vacation by itself. My son received a button to wear to all the theme parks that allowed us to go to the front of the line. The theme park characters all knew about the button. All they had to do was see it and they would go out of their way to make sure this was a special trip.”
“I have had the opportunity to be involved with several Magic Moments fundraisers. My favorite is one that was just completed. I agreed to be the Magic Maker for a young girl. Knowing that Magic Moments had to cancel its fundraisers in 2020 due to COVID-19, I thought about raising the money for this wish. I approached a group of young engineers that I work with and asked them if they would consider holding a fundraiser and shared with them about Magic Moments and told them about my son’s wish, who happens to now be one of the young engineers. They were very eager to get involved. They reached out to the many contractors and vendors that we deal with and asked for prize donations. After the prizes were secured, they sold raffle tickets for a chance to win the prizes. The fundraiser was successful with more than enough funds being raised to grant Cay’Reese’s magic moment.”
