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Kevin Bacon Surprises Hartford Students With Visit and Donation for Disney Trip

Students at a Hartford, Connecticut, school will now be able to fulfill their dream of going to Disney World, thanks to a Hollywood actor.

“Hi everybody. You have no idea who I am, but here I am,” Kevin Bacon joked as he walked into a school Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy room full of eighth graders.

The students have been trying to raise money for the trip, which would be the first time many of them would leave the state. Their teacher, Jennifer Mancone submitted her cause over a year ago on sixdegrees.org, Bacon’s charity organization that connects celebrities with people who want to make a difference.

Mancone got the call Tuesday that Bacon, known for movies like "Footloose" and "Animal House" and the television show, "The Following," would be visiting the school to hand them a present: a $3,000 donation for a trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Bacon knew the class was struggling to pay for it.

Mancone, said it was a chance for them to leave Hartford and experience something else.

“Typically, it’s just around Hartford or maybe the Connecticut area or back to their home country. They don’t really get the chance to go outside of their own their bubbles,” Mancone said.

“This is a really, really super cool thing this teacher is doing and I really feel like teachers are great, great unsung heroes,” Bacon said.

Bacon sat with a group of 13 ESL students. Among their conversations, were their favorite things, their hobbies and where they are from.

Mancone said she got the chance to travel when she was younger and it changed her perspective on life. She hoped the same would happen for her students.

Bacon and Mancone hope broadening their experience will motivate students to push forward.
Keyshla Mirabal is one of Mancone’s students.

“I don’t know how to explain it!” student Keyshia Mirabal said in excitement. “There’s more people that do care about people having new experiences. It’s just that he’s just amazing!”

NBC Connecticut spoke to several students who also thanked Mancone for her hard work.

Bacon also visited the Billings Forge Community Works kitchen to talk to culinary job trainees in a program that "prepares low-income residents with barriers to employment for jobs," according to Billings Forge Executive Director Cary Wheaton.

He had lunch at the Kitchen at the Hartford Public Library.

Bacon has been spending a lot of time in the capital city of late as he stars in the sold-out stage adaptation of "Rear Window" at Hartford Stage on Church Street.

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