Civil Air Patrol delivers gifts to West Michigan Regional Airport
HOLLAND — Over the weekend, three aircraft from the Michigan Wing Civil Air Patrol arrived at West Michigan Regional Airport to spread holiday cheer to foster children in the Holland area.
As part of the patrol's Operation Good Cheer, the aircraft delivered gifts, representing a larger group of private, corporate and CAP pilots transporting donated toys across the state.
Operation Good Cheer is celebrating its 50th anniversary. It began in 1971, delivering gifts to 66 children. This year, the operation delivered 19,941 gifts to 6,647 children.
Volunteers packed and wrapped Friday evening before loading vans and planes for delivery Saturday, Dec. 4.
“Operation Good Cheer is my favorite event of the year," said Lieutenant Michael Freeman of CAP. "I was involved with (the operation) before joining CAP, and now I am honored to lead our team’s involvement.
"This is a great event to show the public the type of activities that CAP participates in and contributes to the community. We have cadets from squadrons across the state of Michigan loading gifts into trucks, and marshaling over 200 aircraft between the ramp and loading areas on the field. I’m very proud to be part of such a great team.”
CAP, a nonprofit, is the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force with 57,000 members nationwide.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Civil Air Patrol delivers gifts to West Michigan Regional Airport
