CHALLENGE AIR
PARTNERS:
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 Recently, we
partnered with AAA, the auto protection group. After we met with the AAA folks
here in Dallas,
we learned they are so much more than just a great auto protection
organization. Part of this new partnership is a benefit to all Texas residents. Right now,
if you live in Texas,
you can get an AAA membership for only $71.00/year. $20.00 of this will be a
direct donation to Challenge Air. Plus, if you sign up, you will receive a
second membership absolutely free. To learn more, or to sign up, you must call
1(214) 252-2443 . You cannot call any other location
to receive this offer. You win and Challenge Air wins! Challenge Air is excited to announce its partnership with PilotMall.com!Now,
when visiting the PilotMall.com website, visitors the will have the
opportunity to make a contribution towards the Challenge Air program
through their shopping cart when checking out. Please support www.PilotMall.com for all your aviation needs!Thank you PilotMall.com!
Late last year one of our volunteers came to us with an idea to provide
ongoing contributions to Challenge Air while improving the overall
health of the children and families that participate with Challenge
Air. Cheryl, a Registered Dietitian at www.nutrition1st.com,
Mary and Ken all have attended numerous Challenge Air events to provide
nutritional advice and introduce a product from NSA called Juice
Plus+®. Over 20 Challenge Air families have added Juice Plus+ ® to
their child's nutrition program resulting in almost $600 year in contributions to Challenge Air. This has been truly been a win/win for
the children, the families and for Challenge Air.
What is Juice Plus+
®???? Juice Plus+® is convenient, easy-to-take whole food based
nutrition, rich in vitamins, fiber, minerals, and antioxidants. They
have figured out a way to put the fruit and vegetable nutrition in
capsule, gummies, and chewable form. Unlike traditional vitamin
supplements, Juice Plus+® contains naturally occurring nutrition from
the fruits and vegetables themselves.
More information can be found at
www.jphealth.net/challengeair.
Thank you Juice Plus!
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Challenge Air for Kids and Friends is a national children's non-profit organization whose mission is to offer motivational, inspirational and life-changing experiences to physically challenged and seriously-ill children and youth through aviation.
Parents have told us time and again that we are building self-esteem and confidence in their children.
Challenge Air is working diligently to raise much needed program and operational funds. If you would like to make a one-time gift or set up a monthly contribution schedule at this time, you may do so at www.challengeair.org or simply call 877/FLY-KIDS. Donations may be mailed to:
Challenge Air
8008 Cedar Springs Rd., LB-24
Dallas, TX 75235
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Dear
Friends:
We have lots
of new and exciting news to share with you in this issue. On March 7th, we held our
annual event in Ft. Worth at the Meacham Airport
with MAV Aircraft Services. The event was a huge success. Many thanks to all
our wonderful supporters and volunteers who helped make this event possible.
Please read more about the Ft. Worth event below.
WE ARE MOVING! It is with a heavy heart that we must
say goodbye to our home at the North Concourse at Dallas Love Field. In the
summer of 1997, Southwest Airlines very graciously donated the perfect office
space for Challenge Air's needs. This summer, our building will be destroyed
and new structures will be built. I want to personally thank our friends at
Southwest Airlines for providing our office facilities for nearly 12 years. We
cannot express enough how much this gift has meant to us. Thank you Southwest!!
This brings
us to our new location. I recently contacted the General Manager, Gary Daniels,
at Signature Flight Support at Love Field about new office space for Challenge
Air. Without hesitation, he and his team selected a great new space with our
needs in mind. Signature Flight Support / DalFort Fueling will be donating our
new office space. We will be moving into the new space mid to late April.
Effective May 1st, our address will be 7515 Lemmon Avenue Dallas, Texas 75209. We will be painting in a couple
weeks and currently sourcing for donated carpet and installation.
UPCOMING EVENTS: On Saturday, March 28, we will host our annual event for the Orlando community. We are
at a new location - the Orlando
Executive Airport.
On Saturday, April 18, we will host our annual event in San
Diego at Brown field with San Diego Jet
Center. Please note, the San Diego, California and Everett, Washington events both have waiting lists. If we aren't able to accommodate you and your family this year, please go ahead and register and you will be the first on the list for next year's events.
Please take
a look at our website for the next event in your area. www.challegneair.org There are many ways you can help further the
success of your local Challenge Air event: join the pre-planning committee,
help with corporate sponsorship, or sign up to participate the day of the event.
Again, on-line registration is available and open in most areas. We had two great kick-off planning meetings for both the Portland and Seattle events last week. If you are interested in helping on the planning committee for either of these events, please contact Lonna Gibson.
We greatly
appreciate all the time, support and contributions we receive to benefit the
Challenge Air Program. Thank you for your loyal dedication to help the children
and young people of Challenge Air reach new heights, break through barriers and
realize new possibilities. You are part of a unique organization. No other
nonprofit works in the lives of children and youth with special needs at the
level that Challenge Air does. It's only because you care and believe in this
program that we are in our 16th year. Many more "little miracles
through flight" are on the horizon. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Warmest
Regards,
Byron Laszlo
Executive
Director
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Challenge Air to Celebrate 16 Years of Success!
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On Saturday, November 21, Challenge Air will
celebrate 16 amazing years at our annual gala to be held at The Frontiers of flight Museum.
Our next
planning meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 29th
at 6:30 pm at Dallas Love Field. If
you are interested in joining us
on the local planning committee, please contact Byron or
call
(214) 351-3988 direct. If you cannot join us on the committee, but would like to
contribute in some way, we need help with collecting items for the silent and
live auction. Click here to download the auction gift form. All items, great and
small will be appreciated. Look for your gala invitation in the mail in the upcoming months.
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Ft. Worth Challenge Air Event Thank Yous!
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The MAV team
could not have been more helpful with the Friday set up and the day of the
event. Thank you for jumping in at every turn!! The RISE Adventures Team were
out in full force. RISE has partnered with us at many of our Dallas-area events
and provide amazing recreational activities for our participants. RISE and many other groups joined us for the day
including many of our friends from Advanced Mobility
who were on-hand with demonstration lift vehicles, physically challenged gymnastics, and cool inflatable activities from Infinity Air.
The
Grapevine AMBUCS partnered with the Grapevine Lions club to provide a wonderful
lunch and drinks. Thanks for the cookout!! That's no small feat to feed all the
participants, volunteers, pilots and agencies. In addition, 26 volunteer pilots
registered, with over 125 volunteers to help provide the Challenge Air experience to
86 participants and families that day. GREAT job everyone!! Thank you.
Parent testimonial from Ft.
Worth:
When we got there I really though that it was not going to happen. Brandon was crying and just wanting to leave. It usually takes me awhile to calm him down. Brandon
was still really upset going out to the plane. We put him in the plane and as soon as the pilot placed the headset on Brandon, everything stopped. I was so amazed on how he did. He has multiple things wrong with him. He has vision impairment, speech delay, physical issues and some tourettes. The Dr.'s are not really sure what's wrong they just give me the
run around all the time. So my BIG thing was when he got up in the air how he would do. It seemed like nothing was wrong with him. He did not cry, freak out, move but, just to look out the window. He did so well I was so amazed on how he did. I just can't say with words. When the flight was over I was afraid that when we got back to the Hanger he would freak out again. He was so good then too. He found new friends every where we walked. I just wanted to tell you that it was the BEST experience ever for us. Thanks again so much for everything. My in laws are Volunteering again
in
I hope this gets to the right people and everyone can read it. You all did a great job.
Bless You all...
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Challenge Air Volunteer Jason Morgan gets the ride of a lifetime in the "Meteor Pitts" S-2B for the Travel Channel's "Extreme Adrenaline Pumping Activities!"
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Last November, Spencer Suderman, owner of the Meteor Pitts S-2B biplane called West Coast Director, Lonna Gibson to offer a ride in the front seat of his airplane for a film shoot that the Travel Channel was doing called, "Extreme Adrenaline Pumping Activities." Lonna thought about it long and hard and decided to contact Jason Morgan...long-time Challenge Air Volunteer and Airport Manager for Whiteman Airport, (host of the Los Angeles "Fly Day"). On December 15, 2008, Jason got to participate in the ride of a lifetime. His entire flight was video taped. The Travel Channel should be airing the show
sometime this coming summer. Below is an excerpt from his experience.
"Since learning to fly way back when I was 16 years old, I have dreamed of being
able to fly aerobatics in a Pitts biplane and do all of those wild stunts we
see them doing at air shows. Well, "wild stunts" doesn't even begin to describe
what we did out of Camarillo Airport in Spencer Suderman's Pitts
S-2B aerobatic biplane.
The
day didn't start off too well. Visibility was rather poor as the sky was
covered with cumulus clouds and it was raining pretty hard all morning through
the mid-afternoon. With daylight running out only a few hours away, I was given
a 2-minute lesson on how to use my parachute and jump out of the biplane should
something go wrong, I was strapped into the front seat, and Spencer started the
engine - all while the rain kept falling. We were going up!
When
Spencer applied power to the Pitts for takeoff and I was pushed back into my
seat, I knew it was going to be an exciting flight. Miraculously, the sky
opened up over the aerobatics flight area that is only a few miles away from
the airport. On the way to the aerobatics area, Spencer let me fly the Pitts as
we flew past a full rainbow amongst the billowing cumulous clouds with
beautiful snow capped mountains on the horizon. This was without a doubt the
most peaceful portion of the flight.
The
aerobatics were absolutely a blast and Spencer is an absolute pro aerobatics
pilot. We did various types of loops and rolls, hammerheads, cuban eights, wing
overs, avalanches and other maneuvers Spencer probably invented on the spot.
Spencer is also a great teacher. He actually let me fly the Pitts quite a bit.
Aside from being able to fly the biplane as we climbed back up to altitude
after each controlled yet insanely thrilling spiraling dive straight down to
the earth below, Spencer also let me perform several rolls and loops which
certainly got my adrenaline going as I firmly pushed and pulled the control
stick while the world spun around us. To top off the flight, Spencer took us up
to about 6,000 feet above ground level, turned the Pitts upside down and cut
the power. We then fell a couple of thousand feet towards the earth in an
inverted flat spin as Spencer applied power to accelerate the spin. I
definitely felt something tingle in my stomach on that one!
I
had the time of my life and I would highly recommend Spencer Suderman and his
partner, Dave Platt to anybody looking to do some aerobatic flying. Thanks again, Challenge Air!"
Spencer Suderman brought out his bi-plane as a static display at last year's Los Angeles "Fly Day." Thank you Spencer for your dedication to the children Challenge Air serves!
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