Last Saturday, as I was moving my furniture into the new apartment, our local athletes for the Special Olympics were gathering at the Bloomington, Illinois Airport.
The plan was to have 325 Cessna's bring approximately 800 athletes and their families from all over the country into Lincoln, Nebraska, but due to hard times, only 235 were available. The planes are all donated by their owners, who provide not just the planes, but also the pilots, crew, fuel and time, not a small thing for anyone to do.
Fourteen of these Cessna's landed here at our local airport and volunteers from Prairie Aviation Museum helped in every way, from planning, to handling luggage, to escorting the people to their planes. I could not be there, but I hear it was a stirring sight to see these planes lined up two by two down the runway and taking off one after the other in quick succession. I also heard that it was amazing to watch them landing in Lincoln, approximately one every two minutes. And someone who saw the flights coming in on radar said it was unbelievable to see them descending from all over the country.
This coming Saturday, our athletes will be flying home wearing their medals and I am proud to be one of those who will be there to greet them and make their landing as effortless as we possibly can.
People sometimes tell me how nice it is that I volunteer, but they don't realize how great it is to be allowed to be a part of so many things I would otherwise miss. I am loving this!
If you would like to see some pictures of our museum and planes,you can copy and paste this:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6791137&id=590231787#%21/photo.php?pid=6791137&id=590231787&fbid=458764981787
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