Sky Ball III raises over $500,000 Dls. for men and women in the Military
It was an absolutely gorgeous and perfect day in North Texas for the event.
Tim McAninley
Guest Writer
The third Annual Sky Ball fundraiser was held at the Alliance Maintenance Base just north of Ft. Worth, Texas, on October 23, 2005. It was an absolutely gorgeous and perfect day in North Texas for the event.
American Airlines and the Fort Worth Airpower Foundation hosted this gala fundraiser, which is the Nations oldest military support organization, which was established back in 1958. Their purpose is to help support the families of our men and women in uniform who are serving our country while assigned to the Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base. Many of these families assigned to the NAS-JRB are struggling financially because their military salaries cannot cover the economic impact of multiple deployments overseas.
Many businesses and individuals donated prizes such as artwork, automobiles, food, drinks, and other prizes. The Texas State Champion L.D. Bell Blue Raider High School Band was there, along with the One O’clock Lab Band from the University of North Texas. The U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Band from New Orleans, Louisiana performed a special tribute with “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
There were many different aircraft on static display just outside the huge cantilever hangar. Inside, the hangar had been transformed into a large dining room with a stage, bandstand and lots of dinner tables draped with white linen.
The Facilities Maintenance guys really had their work cut out for them. They had one of the biggest challenges in transforming the hangar into a dining room with plenty of lighting and setting up the stage. It resembled a grand ballroom instead of an aircraft hangar. It took a lot of hard work to turn an aircraft hangar into a dining room with serving lines and seating for over 1,000 people. It was thoroughly impressive!
Master of Ceremonies, Mike Snyder, announced that over 854 American Airlines and American Eagle employees had volunteered to work Sky Ball III. Many volunteers were Union members from, APA, APFA, and the TWU. They had donated their Saturday to help with the set-up, park cars, serve meals, and take down and cleanup when it was over. The union volunteers, Pilots, Mechanics, Fleet Service, and Flight Attendants were in their AA uniforms as they served guests in the dining room. They were a remarkable team at their best, and all for a great cause, to help those NAS-JRB military families.
All our TWU brothers and sisters did a great job and the turnout was fantastic! There were members from TWU Locals 513, and Local 565 at DFW who volunteered to help as well as the host Local 567 at AFW. Sky Ball III at Alliance Airport was a terrific success raising over $500,000 dollars, and it could not have been done without the many diverse volunteers from the three Unions, management, and independent employee groups.
These folks donated their time to the military families in their community. Congratulations and thanks to all of you that made Sky Ball III a wonderful success at the Alliance Maintenance Base.
