My Aviation Donation Project

By Marilyn Espinal

I recently had the privilege of attending two aviation events in Florida: the Latino Pilot Association Event in Kissimmee, and the University Aviation Association event in St. Petersburg. In awe, I noticed at my first event many knick-knacks (aviation swag) that were being given away, even left after the events. Things like pens, notebooks, stickers, and even aviation magazines. All I could think about was how I would soon be traveling to the Dominican Republic and how great it would be to bring these things to the country. From there, I made it my mission to bring as much as I could and give it all away. It had its ups and downs, like the envoy cost. I had close to 72 pounds of stuff; FedEx wanted to charge me $789, and USPS wanted to charge $492. I ultimately chose to bring it in a checked bag with Spirit at the low rate of $125. From there, things looked up; any young child or student that crossed my path would receive something. And, they did!

Some spectators saw my abundance and tried to convince me to sell it, but I wouldn’t compromise my own morals and ethics for ‘chump change’. It felt good to give it away; my mother instilled those values in me at a young age.

I explained to Dominican students how they could get involved in aviation. “There’s more than just becoming a pilot; we need ground crew, inflight crew, managers, and much more. You just need to start studying now, learn what you can about aviation now; there’s an abundant amount of information for free online.”

The kids’ eyes lit up in awe of all the stuff I gave them, the same way mine did when I was at these aviation events. Now, I can only hope that one day we will have an event like that in the DR, but in a way, I brought the event myself. I want to thank these companies and their anonymous representatives that donated so much to me when all I had was word-of-mouth.