The coronavirus pandemic is shedding light on all sorts of heroes in our communities. Not only those tackling the virus on the frontlines in hospitals, but also those doing their bit in various other ways.
A 16-year-old student pilot has turned his greatest love into the opportunity to lend a hand in delivering vital medical supplies to far-flung rural hospitals, as per CNN.
TJ Kim is a sophomore at Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland, and brainstormed with his family as to how he might help during the pandemic.
Together, they devised Operation SOS – Supplies Over Skies. It means that each week the pilot-in-training delivers PPE (personal protection equipment) including masks, gloves and gowns, to small hospitals in great need.
“They kind of conveyed to me that they were really forgotten about. Everyone was wanting to send donations to big city hospitals,” Tim said, as per AP.
“Every hospital is hurting for supplies, but it’s the rural hospitals that really feel forgotten.”
On one flight, TJ was able to fly over 3,000 gloves, 1,000 head covers, 500 shoe covers, 50 masks, 20 pairs of protective eyewear and 10 bottles of hand sanitizer to a hospital in nearby Woodstock.
Dave Powell, TJ’s’s flight instructor, said he was surprised when his student first suggested the project.
“For TJ to be more concerned with the needs of others in his melancholy state just reiterated to me how amazing this young man is,” Powell said.
TJ hopes to attend the US Naval Academy and eventually become a pilot.
Thank you, TJ! What an inspiring and intuitive young man you are! We all need to think a little outside of the box during these times.
Share this article on Facebook if you, too, thank TJ’s good work should have some exposure.
