YARS service members deliver holiday cheer to ill children

Service members from Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ohio (YARS) give a 1/100th scale C-130 aircraft model to a patient at Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley, Dec. 16. Four service members delivered the models and other toys to children for the holidays as part of the air station’s ongoing community outreach program and the Marine Corps Toys for Tots campaign. Col. Mark Ables, Capt. Brian Hodor and Master Sgt. Scott Francesangeli, members of the 757th Airlift Squadron, represented the Air Force Reserve, while Chief Warrant Officer 4 Emiliano DeLeon, commander of the Marine Corp Reserve Landing Support Equipment Company, based at YARS, represented the Marine Corp Reserve. YARS works closely with ACHMV to select candidates for the 910th Airlift Wing’s Pilot for a Day program, which welcomes children with chronic or life-threatening illnesses to the installation to be commissioned as an honorary second lieutenant, see various work centers and taxi aboard a C-130 Hercules aircraft. Youngstown Air Reserve Base Community Council, the 910th’s biggest non-profit supporter donated the C-130 models, while other toys came from Toys for Tots donations.