Page 32 - Sun Rays Febuary 2013
Basic HTML Version
32 | SUNRAYS
FEBRUARY 2013
ONLINE:
SCTXCA.ORG
Honor Flight veterans visited the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. (You may spot a few Sun City Texas residents among them).
She began by writing to huge corpora-
tions like Walmart, Target and Home
Depot, but found that all of their funds
had been allocated for the year. Betty
also went to service organizations like
Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs, spoke with
the President of the Chamber of Com-
merce, and visited small businesses in
the area. She also reached out at Sun
City gatherings—from softball games to
potlucks and group meetings—passing
the hat wherever she went.
It was then suggested by Sun City
residents Karyn and Jay Beavers to ap-
proach the Neighborhood Representa-
tives at an NRO meeting. So she did,
asking that each neighborhood in Sun
City Texas seek out their neighborhood’s
World War II veterans or any they knew
of in the area, to get them to apply to
Honor Flight. Also, with the permission
and support of the 2012 NRO President
Jeff Morgan, each Neighborhood Rep has
been tasked with raising $1,000 fromhis/
her neighborhood to sponsor at least one
veteran in Sun City. Betty said that it is
estimated that we have approximately
125 World War II veterans living among
us, and it costs about $1,000 to send one
veteran on an Honor Flight trip.
Since her presentation to the NRO,
Betty has been overwhelmed with the
response. Three weeks following the
December NRO meeting, five neighbor-
hoods had already exceeded their goal
of $1,000. For more information, contact
your Neighborhood Rep.
A Debt Owed
To Betty, this project is something we as
free Americans owe these heroes.
“Every World War II veteran, each one,
is more incredible than the next. It seems
like an allness statement, but it’s true—
the attitude of people from that great-
est generation, what they did with their
lives…It is as important to talk about
what they did in the war, as what they
did with their lives,” Betty said.
“Every single [veteran] made a contribu-
tion with their life that they could really
be proud of, that we could be proud of.
These are proud Americans—all mem-
bers of the greatest generation. They
fought and sacrificed for the country they
loved. They went to war so that we could
live in this free nation.”
The second Honor Flight from Austin
took place in October 2012—Betty was
even in charge of the 12-13 Sun City
World War II veterans who went on
that trip—and she hopes to have another
flight out in April 2013.
Since she signed up in June 2012, she
has managed to raise close to $40,000
for our World War II veterans, with the
help of generous folks in Sun City and
Georgetown.
Betty asks that you please let your
Neighborhood Representative know who
the World War II veterans are in your
neighborhood—they will be in their 80s
and 90s. Seek them out!
For more information about Honor
Flight Austin, contact Betty Schleder
at
or 512-
868-3900.
Sources: Honor Flight Austin, www.
honorflightaustin.org; The Nation-
al World War II Museum, www.
nationalww2museum.org; U.S. Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs,
Continued from page 30
Betty and her husband, Ben, depart Austin
on their way to Washington, D.C.
PhotoS by TED ACHESON
