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MICKEY, GOOFY GET BIG WELCOME AT GUY BENJAMIN

Dec. 12, 2001 – The pupils' applause was so loud when Mickey Mouse and then Goofy came bounding out of the Guy Benjamin School office on Wednesday that residents at home on the hillsides above Coral Bay probably heard it.
The school's 88 students were thrilled by the visit, especially when Mickey in his captain's costume and Goofy in a sailor suit made their way through the throng doing high fives.
"I think it's fun because I never saw Mickey and Goofy before," Africa Anthony, 9, said. Kareem Grant, 8, said he was ready to go on a Disney cruise.
After assistant cruise director Schalk Botha led the Disney characters and the students in a rousing rendition of "Jingle Bells," the students and teachers serenaded the visitors with the local favorite "Mama, Bake a Johnny Cake" as the rain poured down outside.
The rain forced everyone to gather with chairs in the breezeway normally used as a cafeteria, rather than outside. While it was a tight fit, no one minded.
The two Disney characters made their visit to this remote school as part of Disney Cruise Lines' outreach program in communities where its ships call. "It's part of our Disney philosophy," said Jay Shannon, Disney's Orlando, Fla.-based cast commitment manager. He said crew members made similar visits to St. Thomas last year, and to St. Croix on the Fourth of July.
Shannon and 16 crew members from the Disney Magic, which was in port on St. Thomas for the day, made the trek out to Coral Bay in Bernard Hendricks' taxi, bringing Disney videos for each of the children.
Janet Turnbull-Krigger, an assistant administrator for the Children, Youth and Familes program at the Human Services Department, organized the event. She said that too often Guy Benjamin School is overlooked because it is so far removed from Cruz Bay. This year, she decided to make the trip. "We're thoroughly pleased," Principal Blanche Bello said.
The Disney team also made a stop at the Human Services Head Start Center in Cruz Bay, and Shannon said Disney sent a check for about $2,000 to the Queen Louise Home for Children on St. Croix as part of its Adopt-An-Agency program. The money distributed to agencies serving children comes from spare change put into a jar by cruise ship staff and matching funds from Disney.

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