Snowball Express

In December I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in a unique program called Snowball Express (http://www.snowballexpress.org).  SBE is a non-profit organization that recognizes and supports the children of military families that have lost a parent since 9/11.  Once a year they host a massive 5 day celebration in Dallas and bring 1300 people from all over the country to participate in the festivities.  My company supports the effort by offering free air travel to the families.  Additionally, because so many are concentrated in the same areas, they fly various Snowball charters to points around the nation to pick them up.  I was able to help crew Snowball 8, a Boeing 757 that would fly to Tulsa, Kansas City, St. Louis and Nashville before heading back to the Big D.  Our volunteer crew consisted of 5 flight attendants, two pilots, and a charter coordinator (who is also a flight attendant).  The charter coordinator would stay with the families for the entire 5 day event and then fly on the return charter with them as they were dropped off back home.

We all communicated in advance of the big day to decide how we wanted to decorate the plane and then arrived a little bit before our ferry flight to Tulsa to get everything put into place.

Main Cabin (I did the snowflakes!)

First Class

The Crew!

We would have some special guests traveling with us on the entire sequence, including some corporate media folks, a few cameramen from local TV stations, and some cowgirls from the Mesquite rodeo (one of the venues the families visit during the 5 day program).

The Cabin team were all friends of mine, with the exception of Dawn, whom I had just met, but we worked well together and we had a great time.  We already decided we want to do the same charter together next year!

Top Left clockwise: Ron, Helen, Kimberly, Bill, Dawn and Sharon

Our first stop was Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Each Snowball city does a special program for the families and has a gate decorated for the departure.  In Tulsa, we had a local Army Reserve unit as well as Pistol Pete, the Oklahoma State University mascot.

We boarded about a dozen families and then made our way out to the runway for our short flight to Kansas City.  The Tulsa airport even gave us a water cannon salute as we taxied out for departure.

My friend Sharon and I made sure that our in-flight aprons were festive, going for the Mr. and Mrs. Claus theme, as well as matching hats and blinking noses.

Our next stop was Kansas City, where we would pick up several more families.  The local station folks were great.  They opened up their Admirals Club to the families before the flight  and had a buffet lunch available to them.  They were even kind enough to bring little sack lunches to the plane for us!

It was below freezing when we left so it was not possible to do a water cannon salute without then having to get de-iced.  Our next stop was St. Louis where another small group of families would join us. The mayor of St. Louis was there to present the families with a Proclamation declaring the 9th of December as Snowball Express Day.  

The Mayor of St. Louis meeting with the families

a group shot with two of the kids, Robyne and Julia

The two STL agents who worked our departure

Patriotic Wing Walker

I had two ambitious youngsters who boarded in Kansas City who wanted to be assigned trash detail on our longer flight from Nashville to Dallas, but they decided to get a little head start while we were on the ground in STL and took to cleaning the aisles.

We did a quick beverage service in flight and Eric and Nathan of course grabbed market bags and helped with pick up!  I wish I could take them on all my flights.  I have never seen people so happy about garbage.   This flight to Nashville was a bit longer so we had some time to visit with the families.  I learned that Nathan's dad died in Afghanistan when is Black Hawk helicopter was shot down.  Nathan was about three at the time and has no memories of his father.

Colton was another child who just broke our hearts.  His father served two tours of duty and then at the last minute decided to re-inlist for a third time.  He died shortly thereafter and they buried him on Colton's first birthday.  Colton was traveling with his grandmother.  His mother is still dealing with the trauma of losing her husband and the grief that came after that.  Colton's grandma is now his legal guardian.  You get to talking with the families and you realize they have paid the highest price for this war.  We now have a whole generation of children who are growing up without knowing their mothers and fathers.

Once we got to Nashville, we were scheduled for about an hour of ground time.  This station would be the starting point for about 80 people, the largest of all of our stops (Ft. Campbell is just over the border in Kentucky).  The local folks had arranged for some entertainment and activities for everyone, so we all got off and spent some time inside the terminal to allow the kids a chance to enjoy the festivities.

We were supposed to have some big name entertainment, but they cancelled at the last minute so they got this gal.  At first she started doing a dance with her feathered boa and the agents thought she might be a stripper, but she wasn't.  (Phew!)  The kids really enjoyed her though!

Frosty was sweating thru his fur which was kind of warm and matted.

Santa, determining if a 757 would be more practical than a sleigh.

Once everyone was boarded, we were a full boat and we made our way to Dallas.  This would be the longest segment of our trip, so we had little bistro bags available for everyone and did a beverage service and made hot chocolate for the kids.  I drafted a young girl named Julia to be my meal runner and of course Eric and Nathan wanted to be on the trash cart.  They might need some more training because they couldn't quite get the handle of the break release pedals.

With the meal service concluded, the real fun began.  We had passed out a can of silly string to every parent to give to their child.  We had 22 people with December birthdays so we called them all up and gave them a birthday hat and then as they were going back to their seats, we announced that they were the targets and the let them have it with the silly string!  It was totally insane!  People were screaming and laughing and blasting everyone and everything with silly string!

I got my new buddy Nathan covered with string!  Needless to say after 10 minutes of that, the cabin was trashed, but everyone was so happy and having so much fun.  I'd like to think it helped them forget for a moment about all the sadness in their lives.  Kimberly gave everyone an sheet of paper and some crayons and asked them to draw a picture or write a note about why they liked coming to Snowball Express.  One little girl named Faith wrote that, "My Daddy died in Iraq and I miss him so much and am sad all the time.  I like coming to Snowball to be around other people who know how my kind of sad feels and understand what it is like to not have a Daddy".  

When we finally touched down in Dallas, we wished them all a fond farewell.  Kimberly would be staying with them for the next 5 days, but we were done at that point.  It was an exhausting day, full of emotion, but at the end of it we were all so happy to have been a part of it.  Certainly one of the high points of the last 13 years with this airline.

http://www.wfaa.com/news/Snowball-Express-gives-holiday-fun-for-families-of-fallen-soldiers-111705014.html

The above link profiles parts of our trip... you need to advance to the point where there is -2:20 left in the video to get our segment.  For some reason, we got the last few minutes of Oprah Winfrey and a winter weather story.