Santa Flight
At TVS Pro, we try our best to give back to the community when we can! That’s why we’re a proud sponsor of Santa Flight where Steve Bollinger, one of our owners and our Chief Financial Officer, coordinates. Steve along with his brother Jerry, and Jerry’s son James who also works at TVS Pro, are active pilots that participate.
What is Santa Flight?
Every year one title one school in Utah is chosen and a special flight by Santa, his elves, and several (usually 20+) airplanes (and sometimes other modes of transportation) gather physical and monetary donations to fly and deliver to the school. A special school assembly is usually held with singing, sometimes dancing, and a special visit from Santa and some of his elves! Needed supplies and goods are delivered along with checks, written out to the school, which are hand-delivered.
December 2022
This year will be the 22nd year that a Santa Flight has been made to a title one school. The title one school that has been chosen for this year is Parowan elementary school in Parowan, Utah. The school has a limited budget, has about 500 kids, and many families have below average incomes. We will be gathering new or gently used school supplies, books, backpacks, clothing, coats, hats, boots, blankets, toys and monetary donations.
On December 8th, 24 pilots will arrive at the Cedar City airport where the children from Parowan Elementary School will be bussed out to the airport and await for Santa, Mrs. Clause, and the elves in the North Hangar at Sphere One Aviation. There will be a short assembly, hosted by Principal Trevor Heaton. The children will serenade the pilots with holiday songs and Steve Bollinger will present the donations to the school.
Members of the National Guard “Triple Deuce” will help unload the planes and transport the donations to the school.
How you can help
We are looking for individuals, groups, and organizations, to help collect items and/or monetary donations. We ask that physical donations be placed in small boxes or garbage bags and then weighed and labeled with their weight so that the pilots can see what the weight is – as the planes have weight limits for flights.
Items can be brought to TVS Pro. The last day we will be accepting donations is December 2nd. Our address is:
170 East 2100 South
Salt Lake City, UT
Alternatively, items can be brought out to the South Valley Regional Airport on Dec. 3rd at 9:00 am.
South Valley Regional Airport
7365 South 4450 West
West Jordan, Utah
Monetary Donations
Those that would like to make a physical monetary donation can make checks out to Parowan PTO, which is a 501 c3 organization. Checks can be delivered or mailed, prior to December 2nd, to:
Steve Bollinger
170 E. 2100 So.
SLC, UT 84115
Alternatively, if you’d like to donate via Venmo, you can Venmo Parowan’s PTO President, Jessica Smith (@Jessica-Smith-207 on Venmo) and when it asks what the funds are for specify ‘Santa Flight.’
If you have any additional questions regarding the Santa Flight, you can contact Steve Bollinger at [email protected] or call 801-455-4009.
Steve Bollinger
Angel Flight Utah Wing Leader
Steve is a volunteer pilot for Angel Flight’s West Division and is the current Wing Leader, or Director, for the entire state of Utah. Angel Flight is a nonprofit, 501 (c) (3) organization that coordinates volunteer pilots across the United States who volunteer to fly people, using their own planes, time, and gas, to their out-of-town medical appointments at no cost to the passenger. In 2021 there were over 175 coordinated Angel Flights in Utah, which has already been surpassed in 2022 so far.
An Angel Flight West regional team member usually helps choose the title one schools that are chosen and participates in the delivery of goods.
For more information on Angel Flight West, to volunteer, or give (in multiple ways), please visit their website: https://www.angelflightwest.org/
