ELYRIA — Volunteer Lakeisha Fain of Elyria carefully herded kids at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lorain County on Tuesday afternoon into a silver inflatable dome that serves as a traveling astronomy lab.

Inside, the lights dimmed and children oohed and aahed as “stars” and the faint image of the Milky Way appeared.

The kids really got excited when Jay Reynolds of the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center showed them how astrological signs came from constellations such as Taurus, the bull, or Gemini, the twins, that ancient people saw in the night sky.

At the end of the session, Fain was just as happy as the kids because she had learned something new.

But doing a good deed was not the only reason Fain was volunteering at the center at 1821 Middle Ave.

She is enrolled in the “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day” program and expects that her volunteer time will get her a free ticket to Disney World in Florida.

“I want to take my three boys, Kevant, 9, Kevin, 7, and Kamran, 6,” she said.

The Boys & Girls Clubs is just one of many charities getting involved in the Disney effort. You can find more participating charities by going to the Disney Web site and plugging in your ZIP code.

Another group that is involved is Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lorain County, Director Lise Day said.

You don’t have to pledge the normal one-year commitment to a child to become eligible for the Disney giveaway, she said. However, getting a taste of volunteering in the agency might encourage more people to get involved, she said.

“It would be great for them to go to Disney, but what these kids really need is someone consistently in their lives who will help them and believe in them,” Day said.

There are 191 children with big brothers or big sisters, and another 55 — five girls and 50 boys — are waiting for matches, she said.

Through “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day,” the company hopes to inspire up to a million people to volunteer in their communities by giving each volunteer a free one-day admission ticket to a Walt Disney World Resort or Disneyland Resort theme park.

The program kicked off Jan. 1 and already the Boys & Girls Clubs, one of the participating organizations, has more than 170 people who have registered on the Disney Web site, said Bobby Taylor, director of operations.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Lorain County is offering volunteer opportunities at each of its 14 after-school locations. Volunteers can assist in homework help, arts and crafts, computer lab programs, sports and recreation, as well as the group’s bingo fundraisers.

The organization partnering with Disney is HandsOn Network, a clearinghouse for volunteer opportunities that has 70,000 affiliated agencies, from Habitat for Humanity to local food banks, churches, health care centers and educational programs. Once a volunteer’s service is verified by HandsOn, the volunteer prints out an online certificate that can be redeemed at a Disney park.

The volunteer work and park visit must both be done between Jan 1. and Dec. 15.

Bobby Taylor said he is hoping some people will choose to donate their free tickets to the organization. Youngsters who want to go on one of the trips at the Boys & Girls Club will have opportunities to “earn” their way through various programs, he said.

Others who are unable to use their free tickets are urged to give them to Disney and let the corporation donate them to a charity.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

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