Courtesy Photo Volunteer Megan Miller and Rock Creek School student Hannah Mowry set out for a day at Disney World in 2007.

"These parents are to be commended," said Jeannine Milyard, a 31-year teacher at Rock Creek School. "No one knows what it's like to have a child with special needs."

Rock Creek is a Frederick County public school for students with severe developmental, intellectual, physical and emotional disabilities.

Recognizing that family vacations are especially difficult, Milyard started the Believers' Club for Rock Creek students and their families.

In families with multiple children, vacations can be tough on everyone, she said. Typically, developing children want to charge full speed ahead, and may have to slow down to accommodate a sibling with special needs.

Or, Milyard said, the disabled child is left at home with caregivers.

Monrovia resident Wendy Dudrow took her daughter, Kellie, on the Florida trip in 2007.

She said she wouldn't fully appreciate the struggles of a parent with a disabled child if she weren't one herself.

"People just don't understand how difficult it can be to do the little normal things when you have a child with special needs," Dudrow said. "The opportunity to take our children to a place where normal kids go was such a blessing."

The Believers' Club was started to plan vacations for the disabled child and parents or guardians -- no siblings allowed.

The group travels to Disney World for five days every third year, and takes day trips the other two years of each cycle.

"This provides quality, one-on-one time with the parent and child," said Melissa Main, assistant director of the Center for Student Engagement at Frederick Community College and sister of Milyard.

Milyard nodded.

"This is not respite time, it's bonding time," she said. "This is their family vacation, and we're just putting the pieces together to make it happen."

The group is an IRS-recognized tax-exempt group. It operates under the umbrella of The Arc of Frederick County.

The club raises the money to pay for transportation, hotel rooms, park admission tickets and food for the disabled students, Milyard said. All parents, guardians and volunteers pay their own way.

The Believers first took seven students to Disney World in 2007. The next year, a group of students and parents went to New York City, where they had lunch and saw a production of "Mary Poppins" on Broadway. Last year, the group enjoyed a whirlwind day in Baltimore, with a cruise that included lunch and dancing and a dolphin show at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. The day ended with a production of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" at the Hippodrome.

"We were pretty exhausted at the end of that trip," Main said.

Nine children are lined up to go to Disney World next spring. Main and Milyard said the visit will cost about $900 per student.

Several fundraisers have been held. The group is several thousand dollars short, and is asking the community for help in providing the experience for another group of deserving students.

"Everyone was wonderful, and Disney is incredible," Milyard said of the 2007 trip. "Even the airport was wonderful."

Before the trip, organizers took the kids to the airport so they could experience security procedures. That way, they wouldn't be caught off guard the day of their flight, Main said.

On the day, airport personnel set up a separate security station so the kids wouldn't have to wait in long lines.

"They really went out of their way to accommodate us," Milyard said. "Everyone really made it special for the kids."

Dudrow said the extra work is appreciated.

"Our kids deserve as much fun and happiness as any other," she said. "With our kids, it just takes a little extra effort.

"And maybe our kids appreciate that a little more than the average kid."