In the beginning of 2019, I sat down with my dad trying to figure out the best way to build hours for my commercial rating. There are the obvious ways such as taking friends for flights, staying in the pattern, going on day trips to visit friends from college, or even heading over to Carroll County (TSO) for breakfast and a pie to bring home for Mom. Although these all sound fun and will accumulate flight hours, I wanted to be apart of something bigger than myself. Since I was little, I have been goal driven. I had an urge to complete tasks and have a purpose for what I wanted to complete. Thats where Operation Brown Bear popped into our head. We wanted to give back to the community by delivering teddy bears to kids at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. With our local Ace Hardware we were able to fundraise by doing a pancake breakfast, a bake sale, and doing grilling events throughout the summer.
Our first trip was to Akron Children’s Hospital. In early August, My dad and I flew into Youngstown Elser (4G4). We were able to meet up with a few kids from their branch campus outside of Youngstown. Once we landed, the kids jumped into the airplane to see what aviation is all about. They enjoyed putting on the headsets and looking at all the instruments in the airplane.
A few weeks later we left for Cleveland, Ohio to meet up with University Hospitals Rainbow babies and Children’s Medical Center. When we arrived at Burke Lakefront (KBKL) we were greeted by a family eager to receive a few teddy bears. Signature Flight Support was accommodating with out request to meet the family there with our plane. The kids were able to jump in and check out what we do on a day to day basis as pilots.
We have a few flights planned in the future and we are looking forward to delivering teddy bears to kids around the country. From all of us at Operation Brown Bear, we want to thank you for all of the donations thus far. If you want to donate click here to find out the different donation packages.
See you in the skies,
Ben
Benny and his Jet 