Making Magic

Mansion Memories is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving children in crisis, and their families, who are in the midst of illness, loss, or emotional turmoil. Our goal is to provide free, memorable events that draw on favorite storybook characters, laughter and kindness as powerful tools to endure whatever hardships our guests are facing. We believe that creating magical moments will give children the hope they need to embrace a brighter future, and help the family, as a whole, move forward with a united sense of purpose.

Magical Days

The cornerstone of our organization started with a Magical Day. We invited families from within the community to spend an afternoon on the grounds of the Burrage Mansion, where we treated everyone to fun and games, food and drinks, and a whole lot of smiles and laughter. Mansion Memories grew on the inspiration of this first event, and over the first five years since its inception, hosted 39 Magical Days and helped create once-in-a-lifetime memories for almost 4,000 people! As of March 2020, we had to pause our Magical Day program to adhere to state and local guidelines for gatherings. As many of our guests have compromising health circumstances, we believe this is a necessity for the time being.

Magical Drive Thru Adventure

During 2021, Mansion Memories found a new way to meet our mission of creating magical memories for children in crisis with our Magical Drive Thru Adventure.

Over the course of two separate dates, and a team of 160 volunteers and cast members, we welcomed more than 400 people through the gates of the Burrage Mansion for a whimsical, wonderful family adventure. With eight unique storybook-themed stops along the way, our guests, nominated by local agencies, were treated to singing, dancing and one-on-one engagement with our characters.

Pop Up Popsicle Parties

In the spring of 2020, when we realized we couldn’t hold our Magical Days, we decided to create a safe way to create some magic and beat the heat with a Pop Up Popsicle Party. We invited many of our various nominating agencies to reach out to families with children who could benefit from a fun, but Covid-compliant outing. Since the first Popsicle Party, our favorite characters have helped us hand out over 500 popsicles!

Stay At Home Events

When Mansion Memories had to put our in-person events on hold in 2020, we developed some fun-filled alternatives to help kids and their families make magical memories. We hosted virtual tea parties, magic shows, drone demos, drawing lessons and so much more! These Making it Magical and Quaran-Tea events were held weekly from April to December and available to everyone through our social media platforms.

To access recordings, please visit the Mansion Memories Youtube channel.

How Do We Select Our Families?

For our in-person activities, families are nominated from within the community who have social, economic or health related crisis. We receive nominations from our partner agencies as well as from the general public. There is no need to submit a nomination more than once as we try to accommodate as many people as possible who meet the requirements of our mission.

Please note: Due to limited space and our goal to serve as many families in crisis as possible, we cannot accommodate grandparents, aunt, uncles, cousins or friends at the Magical Day. Only Nominees selected to participate and their immediate family members may attend the Magical Day event.

How To Get Involved?

We typically have over 150 volunteers to bring our in-person events to life. From decorating to food preparation to the final clean up, our amazing volunteer workers are a crucial component to our success. Volunteer opportunities will be announced as needed for each event. Click HERE to register as a volunteer.

Nominate a Child

Nominations are only accepted during the 8 weeks prior to the event. Please follow us on Facebook or subscribe to our email notifications in order to be notified when we are seeking nominations.