CLEVELAND — “The Vaccine Queens,” two local women who helped thousands of people in Ohio get a COVID-19 vaccine, are going to Disney World.
Earlier this year, Marla Zwinggi and Stacey Bene started signing people up for a vaccine when they helped their older relatives get appointments and realized they had a talent for navigating the then-confusing system.
The two teamed up to share tips for booking appointments on Facebook, and worked individually with complete strangers to get them access to the vaccine.
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Disney decided to honor them with the free vacation to Orlando and a free year of Disney+ by naming them the first winners of the “Magic Makers” contest. It's a nationwide search to find people who make a positive impact in their communities.
“We entered in this journey with no expectations of receiving anything for the work that we were doing,” Zwinggi said in an interview with News 5.
“One of the things that feels really good about this is that we knew how important what we were doing was for the people that we were helping,” Bene said.
Zwinggi and Bene were nominated by a fellow mother whose daughter was in the same virtual classroom as one of Zwinggi’s kids. That mom saw the contest online and knew they were the perfect candidates.
Disney will name 50 “Magic Makers” by the time the program ends. Disney is accepting Magic Maker nominations until Oct. 1. Learn more here.