Security guard Freddie Wieczorek's Royal Gesture #AtoZChallenge

Retired after 35 years in the German Navy, Freddie Wieczorek was driving his wife nuts at home, constantly bickering, changing tv channels and wondering whether it was lunch time yet. Annoyed, his wife gave him two options - get a part time job or a divorce! (She probably takes credit for her husband's fame now, I imagine.)

Wieczorek eventually got a job as a security guard at Walt Disney World in Florida. While his main job involved checking the bags of people entering Magic Kingdom, it was the small booklet he carried with him that got noticed by an observer who snapped a very telling picture.

You see, in a twist on the classic tradition where kids go around asking for autographs and pictures with their favourite Disney characters, Wieczorek would walk around looking for children who had come to Disneyland in costume. Fred would then whip out his autograph book and ask them for their signature, gushing over his good fortune on meeting 'a famed Disney prince/princess'.

“Their face brightens up. This is something so unbelievable for them. It gets them by surprise and they feel special. Every time I see a princess leaving from that signature or when I just tell them, ‘You look so pretty,’ I see them skipping. Then I know I just made their day. It’s very special.”

- Freddie Wieczorek

The picture that went viral in 2008 shows 5 year old Alli Bunchuk in her favourite princess gown, signing Wieczorek’s book. Alli's grandmother, Barbara remembers the day well.

“We started to walk in the park when the security guard stopped her and said, ‘Excuse me, Princess, can I have your autograph?’ She couldn’t believe it. Throughout the day, she kept saying, ‘I can’t believe he thought I was a real princess.’ She kind of floated around all day.” 

- Barbara Bunchuk.

In less than 5 years, Wieczorek collected over 1400 signatures from gushing children visiting Disneyland.

Author's note:

This is part of my #AtoZChallenge where I will be focusing on Real Life Heroes of Kindness and Compassion.

The list for this year's (2018) Heroes of Kindness can be found here.

Of course, I have been tracking these lovely human beings for years now and have found children as young as six years old and old women in their eighties from across the world who will restore your faith in humanity. You can find the entire list of Real-life Heroes of Kindness and Compassion here.