$10K check presented for ‘trip of a lifetime’

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - After spending hundreds of man-hours making toffee, The ELF Project presented the Carlson family a $10,000 check for their "trip of a lifetime" on Thursday.

Starting with the goal of selling 600 tins, the family, with the help of The ELF Project, had sold more than 1,200, according to Jonny Fisher, executive director of The ELF Project.

"We threw it up on our website, when thought, 'Oh, we'll have 100 orders, 150 orders come in' and, before we knew it, within 20 or 30 minutes we had 100 orders," Fisher said.

"In a week and a half, I think it was, we had 1,200 orders. And we could have had more."

The Carlsons, excited about hitting their goal, will now be able to fly down to Mexico for their cruise.

"We were gonna just rent a van and go down and drive," John Carlson explained.

In addition to the ease of travel, the family will now be able to participate in more of the excursions than originally thought. Instead of going snorkeling once, they might go twice, according to John.

"It's going to be an incredible trip, it's so exciting," Cally Carlson, whose future is "still a big question mark," said.

Battling brain cancer, Cally says this experience has made her family realize what's really important to them.

"And that's building relationships and memories and those things," she said. "I want to just really have a strong relationship with them, I want them to have a really strong relationship with each other and sometimes you have to spend some time stuck together to do that."

When the family sets sail in March, John, Cally and their four kids will be taking part in something they hope their kids remember forever.

"It's all about memories, we've got to create memories," John said.