By JAMES MILLER

Penticton Herald

Mike Toledo has enjoyed  a 27-year career in law enforcement and insists one of the greatest pleasures he has is his volunteer participation in the Wendy's DreamLift Day.

The popular fundraiser, now in its 19th year, is being held Wednesday, Jan. 30 at Wendy's outlets throughout the Okanagan  where 100 per cent of sales, plus staff and management wages, are being donated to the Sunshine Foundation of Canada, BC Interior chapter. The money is earmarked for children from the Southern Interior to participate in a one-day trip to Disneyland, tentatively scheduled for December.

"I enjoy seeing the community involvement. I've never seen anything like it," said Toledo, one of six law enforcement agents visiting the Okanagan as representatives of the Orange County Sherifs department from California.

"The community gets engaged with the whole DreamLift. It's just not Wendy's or Sunshine or the RCMP but an entire community. Wendy's is packed from open to close and quite often people come for lunch and then they're back at dinner."

This is the fourth year Toledo has come as a goodwill ambassador, spending the past three years in Salmon Arm. For more than 20 years, he's assisted on the actual DreamLift Day at Disneyland with 200 other law enforcement agents. When his three sons were younger, he'd often involve them as volunteers.

"This is the front-end which is wonderful but I'm also involved with the back-end where we're there to meet the kids when they get off the plane and spend the day with them. Some want to go on rides, others just want to shop. To see the smiles on the kids' faces is wonderful. Sometimes alumni comes to DreamLift Day and that's a wonderful feeling in itself."

Toledo, who speaks in a heavy New Jersey accent (he moved to California as an adult), spent part of Tuesday with local RCMP. In Orange County, he serves as the division commander of court operations and works closely with judges and ballifs. During his visits to B.C., he's done several ride-alongs with RCMP and spent part of Tuesday at the Penticton detachment.

Policing is policing, in many ways, but he notices one big difference.

"There's a lot of territory here to cover. The RCMP members have a very challenging job. Where I come from, I know that I'm 12 seconds to one minute away from having a deputy there to assist me on a call. Here, not so much. Your guys up here have some potentially dangerous stuff to deal with and help is not always around the corner."

Since 1995, Wendy's outlets across the Valley have raised a combined $1,109,356 for children with severe physical disabilities and life-threatning illnesses. The final total has increased every year from $10,500 in its first year to $114,276 in 2012.

Wendy's opens at 6 a.m. on Wednesday for coffee and take-out salads. The regular lunch menu is available at 10 a.m. and the restaurant will remain open until 11 p.m. In addition to law enforcement agents, local celebrities will be volunteering to assist staff.

Participating restaurants are in Penticton, West Kelowna, Kelowna, Vernon, Salmon Arm and Kamloops.