For our final week of the PDS CARES 30 Years, 30 Gifts program, we are excited to announce that our final donation will go to Honor Flight Columbus. We are giving this donation in the name of our late client, John Gibboney, a World War II Veteran, and a U.S. Merchant Marine. Honor Flight Columbus selected John to take the Honor Flight in April of this year. John passed away shortly after, on August 23rd.
From the Honor Flight website: Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization created solely to honor America’s veterans for all their sacrifices. We transport our heroes to Washington, D.C. to visit and reflect at their memorials. Top priority is given to the senior veterans – World War II survivors, along with those other veterans who may be terminally ill.
Of all of the wars in recent memory, it was World War II that truly threatened our very existence as a nation—and as a culturally diverse, free society. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, an estimated 640 WWII veterans die each day. Our time to express our thanks to these brave men and women is running out.
Honor Flight Columbus accepts applications from America’s Senior Veterans: Currently, these are the men and women who served during WWII and Korean War years. In addition, we put terminally ill veterans from any era at the head of the line.
Accordingly, WWII veterans will continue to have top priority, with Korean veterans now comprising the majority of each flight. We call the Korean veterans on the waiting list for their flight in the order that we receive their applications.
While we recognize and respect the men and women who served during the Vietnam and more recent wars, Honor Flight Columbus’ efforts are to provide a day of Honor, Celebration and Sharing for Senior Veterans. It is our goal to transport veterans of wars by the sequence of the conflicts as long as donations from the public continue.
The World War II Memorial was dedicated in May 2004 and the Korean War memorial was dedicated in July 1995. They are long overdue tributes to the men and women who sacrificed so much for our freedom, and a memorial to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Regrettably, many of these aging vets have been unable to visit their memorial in a conventional way on their own due to lack of funds or travel impediments. Through volunteer guardians who pay their own way, we overcome many of the problems and escort them on this “trip of a lifetime.” These all-expense-paid, one-day trips to the nation’s capital occur April – October as donations permit.
Thus, in memory of John, and all others who have served in the military branches, PDS CARES is honored to make our last donation of the 30 Years, 30 Gifts to Honor Flight Columbus. To learn more about this wonderful non-profit organization, please visit the national website: https://www.honorflight.org/ or, for the Columbus area regional hub: http://www.honorflightcolumbus.org/
PDS CARES “30 Years, 30 Gifts” is a charitable gifting program which will make donations to thirty 501(c)(3) charities in 2015 in celebration of PDS Planning, Inc’s 30th year anniversary.