A specially painted Lear Jet helped the Make-A-Wish Foundation celebrate 25 years of service and brought a smile to the faces of some 30 kids last month.
The model 35A jet, owned by International Jet Aviation of Englewood, Colo., was due to be repainted. The company’s employees wanted to do something special for the kids from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, according to Lynn Krogh, president, who said they volunteered their time to give the jet a temporary paint job. For a week they took kids for short rides in the airplane, which was christened “Dream Chaser.”
“These were rides with no strings attached. They were not connected to the kids’ Make-A-Wish wish,” said Krogh. “It was just for fun.”
Make-A-Wish is a national program that grants wishes for seriously ill children. Often the wishes involve trips to Disneyland or a sporting event and there is an aviation component in the form of travel.
Krogh, who has been involved with the program since the 1980s, said the employees wanted to do something a little different for these kids.
“We wanted something that was bright and optimistic,” he says. “So we looked at rainbows, chasing rainbows, kind of a dream thing. We did it with bright day-glow colors to make the kids at ease to get into the airplane.”
To make it extra special for the kids, the crew allowed the kids to sign their names on the side of the airplane.
The aircraft has since returned to the paint shop to achieve a more conventional look.