Hopewell News

Virginia Chapter Ninety-Nines (The International Organization of Women Pilots) has organized a toy airlift to benefit the children of veterans and active military.
Toys will be flown in to Chesterfield Airport from other area airports across the state on Saturday Dec. 1 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. where soldiers will accept the toys and transport them to the various facilities for distribution to needy families.
Gifts are also needed for the use of the hospitalized veterans at McGuire’s Veterans’ Hospital. Examples are gift cards for supplies (Target/Wal-Mart/ Blockbuster/ Michael’s or Ben Franklin Crafts); gasoline gift cards for patient outings (Sheetz or WaWa); Ukrop’s or Food Lion gift cards for patient snacks.
The public is urged to get behind this effort to assist the veterans. Citizens should drop off new and unwrapped items into designated collection boxes by Nov. 30. The following locations will have collection boxes:
• All area airports (Dinwiddie, Chesterfield, Hanover, New Kent)
• The Aviation Museum near RIC
• Batters Choice Sporting Goods, 3105 S. Crater Road, Petersburg
• The Hopewell News, 516 E. Randolph Road, Hopewell.
• Ingram & Associates Real Estate, 3302 Oaklawn Blvd., Hopewell.
Members of the Ninety-Nines in other states have already placed collection boxes in airports in Maryland and North Carolina in addition to the ones in Virginia. Pilots from those areas will fly the toys collected from those airports and will be arriving December 1 from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday.
Headquartered in Oklahoma City, Okla., the Ninety-Nines is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization of women pilots dedicated to the promotion of aviation safety, aviation education and the guardianship of the place of women in aviation history.
The organization owns and operates the Museum of Women Pilots in Oklahoma City and the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum in Atchison, Kan.
The Virginia Chapter has members from all over central Virginia. Membership is open to all women pilots and student pilots.