All,
Please beg my indulgence at posting this on the Major's Forum. This is where I have posted many posts over the 8 years I've been on FlightInfo. For that reason it is the place where if I have any credibility it could do the most good in a cause I hope you find appealing also. It is also "majors" related but not restricted solely to "major" carriers. This is story that I believe has broad implications and is worth a few moments of your time.
In 1997 a gentlemen (Michael Kerr) and his son were stuck on a Southwest Airlines aircraft for 4 hrs when the LAX Center went down after pushing off the gate. The "positively outrageous service" he received that day inspired him to reach out and help other children who would not normally be able to enjoy an airplane ride to organize an event with an aircraft for such underprivileged children, it was known as the Southwest Express and was held at the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport in '97. Southwest crews bought the gas for the aircraft & flew the airplane locally & landed back at a hangar on the FBO side of the field and allowed the children to see Santa and enjoy an event that wouldn't have occurred without the acts of those original Southwest crewmembers. The tradition was carried on a few more years but 911 caused it all to come to an end...until this Dec.
Michael has regenerated the entire event but with a different twist now that he has moved to California. The children who will be honored and their families at the event on 15-17 Dec in Orange County, CA will be those 1400 children who have lost a parent due to the conflict in Iraq & Afghanistan. These children and surviving spouses are to be the guests of many corporations at the Oakley Corporation (Quicksilver) campus and of Disneyland. They will also be the guests of the Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Fairmont & other hotels in the area that will be hosting these families at no charge to the families. Southwest Airlines and the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association have endorsed this remarkable effort.
Please go to the Snowball Express (www.snowballexpress.org) website and explore the site and see the background (pictures, letters from these soliders, sailors, airmen and marines to their loved ones) on the inspiration for this worthy cause. Michael has done a masterfully job of organizing it and working to give these children a Christmas they will never forget. They certainly deserve it considering the loss they have experienced.
Southwest Airlines has donated 100 tickets to the cause but much more airlift is needed. I've had contact from an ANG unit that is working the wickets to carry some of these families and the children out to Orange County. We can use many more of these type of offers from military units if they are interested.
This is where I need you help if you are willing to consider it. I realize there are many of you who have contacts within your company that if made aware of this need for airlift, would be more than willing to help assist. Whether it is with one ticket or an entire airplane (corporate jets, commerical airliners, commercial carriers like SWA or other military units wishing to help), we need to transport a large number of folks on the 15th of Dec and take them back the evening of the 17th....if you believe you could help in this matter it would be greatly appreciated.
This website has helped an awful lot of folks through the years. I would like to hope it is possible this request would also generate an outpouring of help and assistance for a cause that regardless of how you may feel about the war, merits you serious consideration. Many on here have been given the gift to fly airplanes....we now have the opportunity to share that gift in a way that could change a child/families's life in a way that none of us could imagine.
If you wish to help or have questions, feel free to send me a PM on the website here...I'm open for any suggestions or contributions that could be generated to get these children & their families out to California to be honored in a way they will never forget. This is more than just a one time event as the website explains (future funds for college, employment transition help for the surviving spouse, etc) so a desire to help can take the form of something other than mere airlift support for these families.
Thanks for your indulgence and if I have overstepped the bounds of what this forum is all about, please accept my apologies to those readers who may find it not relavent to the topic of "majors".
For those looking to tell a story to your crew later on about the unknown power of giving great customer service because you never know how it will impact someone in the future, this story is about as good as it gets....a little POS in '97 will result in 1400 children nine years later being given a gift that no one would have imagined when LAX lost its power years earlier....funny how things work out.
Feel free to post suggestions or contacts on this thread also if you wish to comment publicly. As for why the military doesn't simply provide the airlift directly...most of these families are no longer allowed to travel military air since they no longer have a family member in the military....not that the military doesn't wish to transport them but the rules are sticky...just in case you were wondering.
Sincerely,
Please beg my indulgence at posting this on the Major's Forum. This is where I have posted many posts over the 8 years I've been on FlightInfo. For that reason it is the place where if I have any credibility it could do the most good in a cause I hope you find appealing also. It is also "majors" related but not restricted solely to "major" carriers. This is story that I believe has broad implications and is worth a few moments of your time.
In 1997 a gentlemen (Michael Kerr) and his son were stuck on a Southwest Airlines aircraft for 4 hrs when the LAX Center went down after pushing off the gate. The "positively outrageous service" he received that day inspired him to reach out and help other children who would not normally be able to enjoy an airplane ride to organize an event with an aircraft for such underprivileged children, it was known as the Southwest Express and was held at the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport in '97. Southwest crews bought the gas for the aircraft & flew the airplane locally & landed back at a hangar on the FBO side of the field and allowed the children to see Santa and enjoy an event that wouldn't have occurred without the acts of those original Southwest crewmembers. The tradition was carried on a few more years but 911 caused it all to come to an end...until this Dec.
Michael has regenerated the entire event but with a different twist now that he has moved to California. The children who will be honored and their families at the event on 15-17 Dec in Orange County, CA will be those 1400 children who have lost a parent due to the conflict in Iraq & Afghanistan. These children and surviving spouses are to be the guests of many corporations at the Oakley Corporation (Quicksilver) campus and of Disneyland. They will also be the guests of the Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Fairmont & other hotels in the area that will be hosting these families at no charge to the families. Southwest Airlines and the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association have endorsed this remarkable effort.
Please go to the Snowball Express (www.snowballexpress.org) website and explore the site and see the background (pictures, letters from these soliders, sailors, airmen and marines to their loved ones) on the inspiration for this worthy cause. Michael has done a masterfully job of organizing it and working to give these children a Christmas they will never forget. They certainly deserve it considering the loss they have experienced.
Southwest Airlines has donated 100 tickets to the cause but much more airlift is needed. I've had contact from an ANG unit that is working the wickets to carry some of these families and the children out to Orange County. We can use many more of these type of offers from military units if they are interested.
This is where I need you help if you are willing to consider it. I realize there are many of you who have contacts within your company that if made aware of this need for airlift, would be more than willing to help assist. Whether it is with one ticket or an entire airplane (corporate jets, commerical airliners, commercial carriers like SWA or other military units wishing to help), we need to transport a large number of folks on the 15th of Dec and take them back the evening of the 17th....if you believe you could help in this matter it would be greatly appreciated.
This website has helped an awful lot of folks through the years. I would like to hope it is possible this request would also generate an outpouring of help and assistance for a cause that regardless of how you may feel about the war, merits you serious consideration. Many on here have been given the gift to fly airplanes....we now have the opportunity to share that gift in a way that could change a child/families's life in a way that none of us could imagine.
If you wish to help or have questions, feel free to send me a PM on the website here...I'm open for any suggestions or contributions that could be generated to get these children & their families out to California to be honored in a way they will never forget. This is more than just a one time event as the website explains (future funds for college, employment transition help for the surviving spouse, etc) so a desire to help can take the form of something other than mere airlift support for these families.
Thanks for your indulgence and if I have overstepped the bounds of what this forum is all about, please accept my apologies to those readers who may find it not relavent to the topic of "majors".
For those looking to tell a story to your crew later on about the unknown power of giving great customer service because you never know how it will impact someone in the future, this story is about as good as it gets....a little POS in '97 will result in 1400 children nine years later being given a gift that no one would have imagined when LAX lost its power years earlier....funny how things work out.
Feel free to post suggestions or contacts on this thread also if you wish to comment publicly. As for why the military doesn't simply provide the airlift directly...most of these families are no longer allowed to travel military air since they no longer have a family member in the military....not that the military doesn't wish to transport them but the rules are sticky...just in case you were wondering.
Sincerely,
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