Day In The Sky - Press Release

BayAreaParent
Circulation 54,000
April 2009 edition

"Stork" Arrives in April

"You get a whole new perspective on life up there. You realize how small the creatures on Earth are, and yet here you are seeing from the sky down." Foster Ansersen, founder, Day in the Sky. Foster Andersen may struggle with the daily challenges of being confined to a wheelchair, but he finds inspiration in flight and ocean activities.

By Marie C. Baca

His real name is Foster Andersen, but his friends have known him as "Stork" since he was a teenager. As a long-limbed adolescent whose adult height would be well above six feet, Andersen cut such an imposing figure in his snowy hometown of Rochester, New York, that his buddies claimed he looked like a certain white avian.

Nicknames come and go, but Stork stuck. It wasn't just because of his similarities between him and Ciconia ciconia; Andersen was obsessed with the bird's-eye view of the world that can only be achieved through aviation. In the absence of wings, he relied on the next best thing to get his flying fix: the local airport. There, pilots would charge $60 for a joy ride in the sky, and Andersen would frequently get a few buddies together to take advantage of their offer.

"We'd go right before sunset and fly around the Finger Lakes (in upstate New York)," says Andersen. "You get a whole new perspective on life up there. YOu realize how small the creatures on Earth are, and yet here you are seeing everything from the sky down. That's a very powerful feeling."

A few years later, those powerful feelings were all but forgotten. A near-fatal motorcycle accident had seriously injured Andersen's spinal cord. He was paralyzed in all four of his limbs. At only 17 years old, Andersen was suddenly a quadriplegic.

The Power of Flight
Today the 48-year-old struggles with the everyday challenges of being confined to a wheelchair, but he found inspiration in an old love: flight. Together with co-founder Dean McCully, Andersen has run the popular Day in the Sky Program in Watsonville and will help host the fifth annual installment in April 18 (pending good weather).

The event gives special needs children the opportunity to enjoy 30-minute airplane rides along the Santa Cruz County coastline, during which the children are encouraged to take the aircraft controls for short periods of time. The sense of empowerment that comes with controlling an aircraft, says McCully, can have a truly magical effect.

"We've had a couple of situations in the past where non-verbal autistic children have suddenly and very briefly started speaking," says McCully. "It never lasts very long, but it just goes to show how much this event means to some of the kids -- not to mention their parents."

In addition to experiencing the airplane ride, participants -- who represent nearly every type of physical and mental disability -- attend a brief preflight school session and receive a photograph and certificate at the end of their flight. Not all the action is up in the sky, either. While waiting for their rides, kids and parents can attend a fair, which includes face clowns, face painters, live animals and food, as well as booths hosted by nonprofit organizations and assistive technology vendors. The entire event is free as a result of dozens of donations from community partners and individuals.

Kids take to sky and sea
The pilots give their time -- not to mention their gas and aircrafts. FAA regulations forbid volunteer pilots from receiving any form of compensation, so pilots donate rides that would normally cost from $150 to $800 an hour. About three dozen volunteer pilots make more than 150 half-hour flights during the course of the day. The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) chapter in Watsonville manages the pilots, provides the flight school instruction, and supervises the individuals who escort families to and from the planes.

The event is modeled after Challenge Air, a Texas-based nonprofit that runs similar programs throughout the country. McCully has also created a Silicon Valley sister program called Take Flight for Kids, which has a similar schedule of activities in San Jose and attracted 130 partnering organization last year. The 2009 version is tentatively schedule to take place on Aug. 8.

EAA and the nonprofit organization Shared Adventures, which Andersen founded in 1994, co-produce Day in the Sky. Shared Adventures also runs the popular Day on the Beach Program, which provides a beach party and accessible sports to hundreds of special needs participants.

Although Andersen is involved in a number of charitable ventures, Day in the Sky holds a special place in his heart. "You just look at these kids and you know they can't wait to tell their friends about what they did," says Andersen. "Here's an activity that most adults haven't done, and yet they have pictures to prove they flew a plane."

He occasionally takes a plane ride himself to once again experience that feeling of floating above Earth. It has been a long flight for this stork, but for him there's something about spreading one's wings across the sky that feels like coming home.

For more information about Day in the Sky, visit: www.dayinthesky.org/

For a schedule of events sponsored by Shared Adventures, go to: www.sharedadventures.org.

Marie C. Baca is a freelance writer based in Menlo Park.