YARS service members bring holiday cheer to ill children

Capt. Brian Hodor, a pilot with the 757th Airlift Squadron, Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ohio, gives Sophia, a patient at Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley (ACHMV) a toy airplane, Dec. 16, 2011. Hodor is one of four service members who delivered 1/100th scale die cast C-130 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. Lt. Col. Mark Ables and Master Sgt. Scott Francesangeli, also members of the 757th Airlift Squadron, represented the Air Force Reserve with Captain Hodor, while Chief Warrant Officer 4 Emiliano DeLeon, inspector/instructor of the Marine Corps Reserve Landing Support Equipment Company, based at YARS, represented the Marine Corps 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.