The costs are considerable, and although many suppliers of services offer us generous discounts, we still talk in terms of more than £3,500 per child or around £750,000 for the complete trip.

Dreamflight is funded solely by voluntary contributions. The lifeblood of Dreamflight is our army of volunteer fund raisers, for without these people the trips would just not be possible.

The ingenuity of our fundraisers is staggering and each year people seem to think up new and novel ways of raising money. It is particularly rewarding to see Dreamflight children from earlier years becoming fund raisers – and even adult helpers - so that future children can benefit.

The Dreamflight operations are conducted year-round from our office in Amersham which is manned by only 2 full-time employees and one part-time, supported by hundreds of volunteers from all walks of life. Dreamflight mobilises more than 300 volunteers each year for the trip itself, many from the medical profession, who give up their time and expertise to care for Dreamflight children.

Dreamflight have been able to attract some corporate sponsorship which has enabled the charity to be placed on a more stable financial footing, but we still rely heavily on individual fund-raising efforts.

Where does the money go?

The total cost of the Dreamflight trip each year is in the region of £750,000. Costs include the chartering a Boeing 747 at over £320,000, around £15,000 annually for medical equipment and medication, more than £40,000 to enable the children to swim with dolphins, Police security, communications equipment, T-shirts for each group (for visibility in the parks), and much more…

As Dreamflight has such minimal overheads, any financial support really does go directly to the children, and therefore every bit of support is tangible in terms of the benefits to a Dreamflight child:

• £6.50 pays for a child’s Dreamflight rucksack
• £24 buys ice cream, drinks and popcorn for the entire trip
• £68 purchases the medical equipment for 1 child
• £100 buys a transit seat, used for transferring some children to and from their wheelchairs on to rides
• £200 pays for a child to swim with dolphins at Discovery Cove 
• £300 pays for a child’s accommodation and half board in Orlando
• £3,500 funds the total holiday for one child