DIDSBURY, Alta. (CP) -- Realtor Dan Peters doesn't know Darcy Pride very well, but in small town Alberta it doesn't make any difference.

Learning that a fellow Didsbury resident was stricken with a debilitating disease and that his family had seldom travelled, Peters mounted a campaign to send the family to Disney World. The dream vacation for the terminally ill man and his family will become a reality next month.

Peters said it was a community effort.

"Word got out there was something wrong with this fellow, and I heard it was ALS -- a death sentence because there's no cure," the 44-year-old realtor said.

"But I heard they'd never travelled anywhere -- they've never been on an aircraft -- so I got it in my head, these folks had to do this."

After a chance meeting with another man on a Didsbury street, the two men put the word out about the family's plight.

In no time at all, the town of 4,000 residents, about a half hour's drive north of Calgary, raised $12,000 -- far more than required to fund the vacation.

"Everywhere I go, people are just handing me money," Peters said.

Pride, a 37-year-old employee of the Town of Didsbury, began to stutter last summer. But he didn't learn until last month that he has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, which is a degenerative illness of the neurological system.

Already the disease has progressed to the point where Darcy is virtually unable to speak.

"Darcy always wanted to take the family to Disney World," said Becky, his wife of eight years. "Before he was diagnosed, we always thought we had the time."

Then Peters and his helpers arrived with a binder full of Disney World brochures and tickets to send the couple and their two daughters, Jennifer, 16, and Ashley, 7 on the dream trip.

"Both of us our so thankful," Becky said.

"Not just for the trip, but also for the memories that will last a lifetime in our children's memories and ours."

Peters said he is also overwhelmed by the generosity of his community.

"People ask, 'Why would I want to live there?' " Peters said. "This is why. This is what our town is all about and why it's called a community."

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