CABA food and toy drive breaks records

Denver – The Colorado Aviation Business Association (CABA) reports it has collected record-breaking donations during its sixth annual food and toy drive at an event that also featured retiring Jeppesen CEO Mark Van Tine.

Since 2011, CABA has partnered with the Colorado Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) to collect and distribute non-perishable food and toys to veterans and their families across Colorado. The project has delivered more than 23,000 pounds of food and toys to Colorado veterans over the past five years.

This year, CABA collected a record-breaking 10,000 pounds of goods, which were delivered throughout Colorado on Dec. 11, 2016, using aircraft donated for the annual operation.

As in years past, CABA and the Colorado VFW worked together to collect and transport donations to Centennial Airport, where they were loaded onto several aircraft destined for Burlington, Las Animas, Pueblo, Alamosa, and Montrose.

Aircraft were then met at the destination airports by teams of VFW personnel who distributed the goods directly to families in need.

The Precision Flight Team of Metropolitan State University of Denver, along with several other business and private aircraft, including a Pilatus PC-12 donated by AeroColorado, flew the donated goods, departing out of Signature Flight Support at Centennial Airport.

A few days earlier, on Dec. 8, CABA hosted its annual holiday party, which serves as the organization’s primary fundraiser for the VFW drive and Airlift. As part of the event, CABA paid tribute to Van Tine, who recently retired as Chief Executive Officer of Colorado-based Jeppesen.

CABA presented a plaque to Van Tine, along with a proclamation issued by the office of Governor John Hickenlooper. Tributes were delivered by Greg Anderson, President and CEO of the Wings Over The Rockies Air & Space Museum; Charlie Johnson, former President of Cessna Aircraft and president of Aero Electric Aircraft Corporation; Greg Feith, former investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board and an aviation safety consultant; David Ulane, Director of the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Division of Aeronautics; Robert Olislagers, Executive Director of Centennial Airport in Englewood; and Dr. Jeff Forrest, Chair of the Aviation & Aerospace Science Department at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

The honors took place following Van Tine’s keynote address at CABA’s event held at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum in Denver.