Dear Families, Volunteers, Pilots and Supporters,

As the President of the Board of Trustees of Challenge Air I can tell you that we are still in business, as financially strong as ever, and ready to get back to the job of flying children in our community. Unfortunately, we still have to wait on the virus to calm down before we can get back in the air but we don’t have to wait on anything else to keep doing what we have done for 26 years. Our staff is upbeat and working hard. Our pilots keep training and look forward to getting back into their airplanes. The Board of Trustees is providing hands-on help and support with things in the organization like I have never seen before. We reach out to our friends and they keep us motivated. Challenge Air is truly a great organization and will continue its greatness for years to come.
 
Don’t worry, we are still here. Stay with us.
 
Griffin W. Collie
Board President
To Our Supporters:
On behalf of the staff and the Board of Trustees at Challenge Air, thank you to the many donors who gave to April’s birthday fundraiser and the North Texas Giving Day. 

Through your generosity, we were able to raise $8,760 which made us eligible for an anonymous $3,600 matching grant, giving us a total of $12,360! Your love and support will help us “keep the lights on” so we can safely prepare for our fall Fly Days!

There is still time to give. Big or small–every little bit helps. We have the power to do great in the lives of these children.
Meet Juliet Siddons, Program Director

Juliet returns to Challenge Air after a 2 year hiatus. She originally started working for Challenge Air in October of 2014. She left in the summer of 2017 because her twin girls were starting junior year in high school and she didn’t want to miss the precious time she had left with them at home. 

As the Program Director of Challenge Air, Juliet organizes and plans all the Fly Days around the country and that means a lot of travel! Now that her girls are in college she is excited to return to Challenge Air once again.
Juliet works with each committee Chairperson in the various cities we have Fly Days. She starts communicating with the committees a year in advance to make sure everything runs smoothly. The first Fly Day she attended in Conroe in 2014 she remembers thinking “wow, I get paid to do this!”

During her two year break from Challenge Air, Juliet was the Volunteers Services Manager at the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas where she was able to help families with sick children to make their stay just a little bit better. 

Before joining Challenge Air, Juliet worked as an IT Project Manager at Southwest Airlines which is where her love of travel and fascination with flying began. In high school, she was a counselor at a camp for children with special needs in Cincinnati, Ohio. She loved working with the kids and being able to combine her two passions has made Challenge Air the perfect place for her.  

Juliet attended SMU as a Dance and English major. She later attended the University of Dallas where she received her MBA in Information Systems. It took her a few career changes, but she has finally found her calling at Challenge Air for Kids & Friends .

When Juliet isn’t attending a Fly Day she can usually be found cheering on college football and enjoying time with her family.
“Thanks to Challenge Air our daughter Eme was able to go on her very first flight. We are very thankful to all of the volunteers that made this amazing day possible. Eme has kept an eye to the sky and has pointed out every airplane she spots ever since her flight. She’s even learned her own version of sign language for airplane to tell us when she spots one. Challenge Air created a special memory for Eme and we will cherish that forever, thank you.”
-Tyler Pierce
"Lift Me Up"
Thank you to all the wonderful images/videos that came in for our "Lift Me Up" campaign.

In the words of John Greenleaf Whittier, "I'll lift you and you lift me, and we'll both ascend together."

We will get back up in the air and we can't wait to see all of you when we do.

DO MORE WITH YOUR AIRPLANE: CHARITIES OFFER PILOTS THE CHANCE TO GIVE BACK
We are excited to be featured in both the Cessna Owners and PIPERS Magazine for April/May.

Chris (Volunteer) said recounting a particularly memorable flight at a Fly Day in McKinney, Texas. “We flew and this kid was just living it up and just having a fantastic time.
And we get on the ground and … his dad pulls me aside and he starts crying and he says, ‘You don’t have any idea what this means. My son has got so many drugs that he’s gotta take for his autism that he’s usually just numb to what goes on around him.’ And he said, ‘This — we will never forget this. And it made such a difference to him and it made such a difference to us just to see him loving something..."