Paycee Whitford, a 17-year-old local girl, was granted the wish of a trip to Disney World Saturday courtesy of the Montana Hope Project.
The Montana Hope Project has been granting wishes to critically ill Montana children since 1984. Whitford's wish represents the 478th the group has been able to grant.
“Once they leave Billings, until they get back, it’s all on us," Montana Hop Project Coordinator Dave Evans said Saturday.
Whitford said she's never been to Florida before and excited for her mom and a friend to head to the happiest place on earth come Oct. 1.
"It feels really good. It feels good to be walking again, and just doing normal things that a kid should do,” Whitford said.
Whitford said her original wish was to go to Comic-Con, a regional comic book convention. In a selfless move she decided on Disney World, because it was something her whole family could enjoy.
“Not all my family really likes that stuff so I decided to just do Florida because I figured everyone would enjoy it more than Comic-Con," Whitford said.
Whitford and her family were gifted a teddy bear, t-shirts, backpack, commemorative coin, and $1,250 in spending cash.
The Montana Hope Project presented Whitford with the trip at Ra Ra's Pizzeria north of Billings.
A group of classic car enthusiasts meet at the pizzeria in the summer months.
Saturday was the car enthusiasts last meet up of the season, and it helped contributed to the Hope Project's cause. Coffee cans were placed under each of the 96 cars. People could drop money into the can underneath their favorite car. The car with the most money won the title of "best in show," and all the money went to the Montana Hope Project.
The Montana Hope Project is a non-profit organization that relies on donations to operate. If you would like to help them grant more wishes to Montana kids, visit their website here.
