Bahamas Habitat Fly-In & Help Out weekend to Eleuthera in the Bahamas is scheduled for Thursday, March 5 through Sunday, March 8, 2009

REMINDER! The upcoming Fly-In & Help Out weekend to Eleuthera in the Bahamas is scheduled for Thursday, March 5th through Sunday, March 8th, 2009.

It is not too late (yet!) for interested pilots to join in this exciting mission.    Sign up for info and details!

“What makes this mission opportunity so unique is that the Bahamas are so easily accessible by general aviation aircraft and so in need that it provides the ideal opportunity for a mission minded pilot to give back to a community in need in an exciting and tax deductible way,” explained John Armstrong, Vice President of Bahamas Habitat and Regional Manager for Dominion Aircraft Sales.

Pilots and crewmembers participating in the March Fly-In & Help Out mission will meet at Fort Pierce Airport (KFPR) on Thursday, March 5 for lunch and pilot briefings prior to departing to Eleuthera. Lodging and transportation on the island are arranged for the group.

“If you’ve ever wanted to fly your airplane to the Bahamas, this is the perfect way to learn the ropes while supporting a good cause,” Armstrong said. “We had pilots join us from all over for our last Fly-In & Help Out event and in every case the experience really touched their hearts (see: Fly-In Help Out Touches Hearts post). We had about 14 aircraft on previous trips. We can house up to 60 people at Camp Symonette and we expect up to 20 aircraft for this next event.”

Also, Bahamas Habitat has launched Dental Missions beginning in 2009 and the organization is seeking flying dentists and dental hygienists that wish to participated in these missions. Please see the details at the Dental Mission links on BahamasHabitat.org

“We hope to form partnerships with various aviation organizations including type clubs, flying clubs and aviation media organizations to grow and support this vital mission.” continued Armstrong.

Pilots and aviation organizations interested in the mission and learning how to fly to the Bahamas with us should sign up for updates at: http://www.bahamashabitat.org and select Fly-In and Help Out Event.
About Bahamas Habitat

Bahamas Habitat is a US-based Christian nonprofit organization supporting housing & disaster relief work in the Bahamas. Through our partner Bahamas Methodist Habitat (BMH), operating out of James Cistern Eleuthera, we are involved in hosting over 600 adults and youths each season for impactful week long and weekend Christian missions. Bahamas Habitat is expanding and supporting the work of Bahamas Methodist Habitat through encouraging greater involvement of non-Bahamian volunteers, pilots and aviation organizations in the extensive community development, housing renovation and construction work needed not only on the island of Eleuthera Island but throughout the Bahamas including the islands of Andros, Abaco, Grand Bahama, New Providence, Ragged and Cat Island. For more information visit: www.bahamashabitat.org or email to info@bahamashabitat.org.

Judge giving a lift to those in need

BY TRENTON DANIEL

Strapped in the cockpit of his twin-engine prop jet, Charles ”Charlie” Greene
checked on the five passengers just before takeoff.

”All right, everyone set?” Greene asked.

”Yeah, let’s do it!” said a voice from the cabin.

Three hours earlier, Greene boarded his private plane at Fort Lauderdale
Executive Aviation to fetch the teens as part of a mission with Angel Flight,
a nonprofit pilot group that transports financially strapped people in need
of urgent medical attention.

On Saturday, Greene had a different kind of mission.

He was piloting volunteers with K-Life, an interdenominational Christian ministry in St. Petersburg. They were among two dozen teens renovating homes for needy families in Eleuthera with the Bahamas Habitat Mission.

The cost of Saturday’s flight came to about $1,000. Greene paid for the fuel.

Greene’s day job is Broward Circuit Court judge, ruling on medical malpractice cases. Since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, he has moonlighted as a volunteer for Angel Flight.

Somewhere at 17,000 feet, the judge invoked the cult classic book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Travel as philosophical inspiration.

FREEDOM IN FLIGHT

”Freedom,” said Greene, 51, in explaining his love of flying. “The ability to go somewhere and be on your own schedule.”

Later Greene steered the plane toward the landing strip, which runs parallel to the shades-of-blue shoreline. He taxied at Governor’s Harbour International Airport in Eleuthera, a narrow island 110 miles long.

As it happens, Eleuthera means freedom in Greek.

In his black 1998 Saturn — duct tape on the right side — Abraham ”Abe” McIntyre, executive director of the Bahamas Methodist Habitat, tapped his horn as he passed curbside buddies and dozens of cyclists on Queens Highway in Eleuthera. Honking is considered a friendly gesture.

Just like McIntyre, the Spandex-clad bike crew glided past the surfboard rental shops, clapboard homes and pineapple plantations.

”You hear Bahamas, you think Atlantis, cruise ships. You think party and resorts,” said McIntyre, 27, who oversaw the project. “That’s such a small part of the Bahamas.”

HELPING HANDS

McIntyre, of Nashville, Tenn., was showing off the home renovations the church group K-Life had done since last Sunday. The teens painted two houses and built an addition on a home for a single mother of four children and two grandchildren.

”Abe has helped me a whole lot,” said Penstone Petty, 46, whose husband left her in October. Petty plans to use the addition as a kitchen and an extra bedroom.

When not working on the homes, the K-Life volunteers marveled at the water and the island’s glacial pace. They also used the six days to take stock of their faith, the trip culminating in a descent into a pitch-black limestone cave.

‘Now, your `mission trip’ is your time in St. Petersburg,” McIntyre said he urged the K-Life volunteers.

RETURN HOME

Outside the tiny airport in Eleuthera, Matt Moench recalled the news he got from Harvard earlier this week. He wasn’t admitted, but he wasn’t flat-out rejected, either.

”I get to say I was wait-listed by Harvard for the rest of my life,” Moench, 18, said, punching the air with a triumphant fist.

Greene, a former Medevac whose history includes transporting injured athletes from the University of Virginia to hospitals, and the teens climbed into the plane.

Aside from a few cloud-induced bumps, the hour-plus flight was uneventful. Greene circled over the brown muck of the Everglades and then passed over the verdant golf courses and baseball diamonds of central Broward before he landed.

On the tarmac, Moench recalled the cave visit.

”We talked about this world and how humanity is in darkness,” he said. “The mission definitely continues after we leave.”

Then Moench left to catch another Angel Flight to St. Petersburg.

For information on Angel Flight, call 800-FLA-HALO or 352 326 0761, or visit angelflightse.org.