Sick children meet 'N Sync, who have lock on Orlando
By Leslie Doolittle of The Sentinel Staff
Published in The Orlando Sentinel on August 17, 2000
Shannon Gatchell let her 12-year-old daughter duck
out of school early, drove her from Deltona to Orlando
and somehow hoisted 80-pound Courtney on her shoulders
in 90-plus-degree heat so she could see above a sweaty
sea of screeching girls.
"Just to catch a glimpse of `N Sync," said Gatchell,
who doesn`t weigh in at much more herself. "What moms
won`t do for their only children."
What prompted Gatchell`s maternal heroics?
Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood presented Joey Fatone,
Lance Bass, JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Chris
Kirkpatrick and their Orlando-based manager Johnny
Wright keys to the city.
"I hear these work in every door in Orlando," said
Chasez, triggering shrieks from the crowd of about
250. "So if you hear someone raiding your fridge at 3
o`clock in the morning, it may be me."
The turnout was far less than the city prepared for,
with roadblocks, clusters of motorcycle cops and
paramedics. But that was probably because the event
started out as one of the group`s McDonald`s
contract appearances -- a closed-to-the-public visit
with sick children and families staying at The Ronald
McDonald House in Orlando.
The guys unveiled a room decorated in their honor.
Their favorite of the themed decor? The bathroom
with an `N Sync shower curtain, monogrammed hand
towels and musical-note wall paper and tissue holder.
"They should have put `Bye, Bye, Bye` on the toilet
paper," joked Fatone, referring to the hit song.
That`s the kind of clowning around mixed with
sincere compassion that quickly charmed the children,
whom they knelt down to tease and engage in talks
about Pokemon characters and video games.
Kirkpatrick delighted a bald, mask-wearing 6-year-old
Jonatán Fonseca of Sanford and his
bone-marrow-donating brother, David, by asking if they
were twins, why weren`t they wearing the same ties?
"Busted," smiled Fatone.
No, these weren`t the awkward encounters of so many
uneasy celebrity photo ops.
Wesley Wright, the proud father of the group`s
manager and mentor, summed it up best: "I thank God
for my son. I taught him about love and respect, and
that`s what I saw today."