If a nightmare and dream can come together, they do so in Orlando, where 70 percent of sick children’s last wishes are granted.

For many, it’s not a trip that can be postponed or tied up in the planning stage. In fact, it’s the tangle of red tape that caught one man’s attention and led to the founding of Give Kids the World, a non-profit organization that provides cost-free resort accommodations and meals to these children and their families during their stay in central Florida.

A Holocaust survivor who lived in labor camps and concentration camps during World War II, Henri Landwirth (78) recalls the uncertainty of his own childhood, the struggles of living day to day.

Landwirth is Jewish and lived in a ghetto in Krakow, Poland, during the Nazi Regime. Between the ages of 13 and 18, he was shuttled between Nazi death camps and labor camps. His father was killed and buried in a mass grave near Radom. At the end of World War II, Henri was marched into the woods to be shot, but a Nazi soldier spared his life and told him to run. “I never knew what my life would be like,” he says. “Frankly, I didn’t know if I would live.”

Henri Landwirth is the founder of Give Kids the World.

Landwirth, originally a native of Belgium, left Europe after the war, arriving in the United States with only US$ 20 in his pocket. Soon after settling into New York, he received what he thought was a welcome letter from the president. It was a draft notice.

He served in the U.S. Army, learning English along the way, and used his GI Bill benefits to take a course in hotel management. He went on to earn a job at a New York hotel, working in every capacity available.

In 1954, he moved to Florida and managed the 100-room Starlite Motel in Cocoa Beach near Cape Canaveral. During these early days of U.S. space exploration, the original Mercury Seven astronauts lived at the Starlite Motel, giving Landwirth the opportunity to build friendships with the astronauts, as well as with network news anchor Walter Cronkite.

During the 1970s, Landwirth founded the Fanny Landwirth Foundation in honor of his mother. The foundation’s work resulted in the construction of a senior citizens center and a school in Orlando. He also created a scholarship program for underprivileged children in Israel. The foundation’s work continues today.

But perhaps Landwirth’s most recognized work is Give Kids the World. In 1986, Landwirth learned of a 6-year-old cancer patient named Amy. Her one wish: to meet Mickey Mouse. Amy died before the travel arrangements were complete.

When Landwirth heard of Amy’s unfulfilled dream, the Holiday Inn executive began knocking on doors, approaching his vast network of colleagues to create Give Kids the World Foundation. It was to be an organization that would slice through planning and paperwork to ensure that children like Amy could visit central Florida in a timely way.

The program began by housing families in Orlando hotels, but the need quickly outgrew the supply. Landwirth searched the Orlando/Kissimmee area and bought a parcel of land surrounded by a burned-out orange grove.

That grove became home to the first villas of Give Kids the World Village, which opened in 1989, only three years after Landwirth launched Give Kids the World. To date, in the middle of its 19th year, the Village has welcomed some 70,000 families. Since its inception, the Village has added more villas, attractions and service buildings, all at a total cost of US$ 60 million.