MEMPHIS, Tenn., 2014-12-16 — /Travel PR News/ — In the spirit of giving this holiday season, FedEx pilots will once again deliver food baskets and gifts to Hope House, a Memphis day-care center devoted to children who have been affected by or infected with HIV/AIDS. The pilots will make their visit to Hope House on Tuesday, December 16 at 10:30 a.m. FedEx pilots will also make a visit to the FedEx Family House with a donation and gifts at 1:30 p.m. FedEx Family House is a home away from home for out-of-town families with children receiving treatment at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.
Through the Pilots for Kids program, FedEx pilots will help families in Memphis celebrate Christmas. As part of this annual tradition, FedEx pilots contribute food, gifts, clothing, and money in support of children and families in need.
Separate groups of FedEx pilots in Anchorage, Chicago, Denver, Indianapolis, and Los Angeles will make similar visits to deliver gifts to schools and hospitals in those cities during the month of December.
“This is the time of year when there is a lot of need in our communities. These visits provide our pilots with an excellent opportunity to reach out to the communities in which we live and affect the lives of children and families,” said Captain Scott Stratton, chairman of the FedEx Master Executive Council, a unit of the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA). “These visits remind us what the true spirit of the holiday season is and are just one more way the FedEx pilots give back to our communities.”
Pilots for Kids is an international, nonprofit program formed in 1983 to provide toys to hospitalized children during the holidays. Today, the program includes airline crewmembers and corporate, military, and private pilots as well as aviation enthusiasts from across the country who visit thousands of children in shelters, orphanages, halfway houses, day-care centers, and hospitals throughout the year.
In addition to toys, members also donate clothing, wheelchairs, hospital beds, special equipment, and meals to meet a variety of children’s needs.
Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilot union, representing more than 51,000 pilots at 30 airlines in the United States and Canada. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org or follow us on Twitter @WeAreALPA.
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SOURCE: Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l
CONTACT: FDX ALPA, Courtney Bland, 901-842-2220 or Courtney.Bland@alpa.org