Pilots for Patients Tee- Latest Shirt That Gives Back

Pilot Bo Hunter in front of the "LSU Plane"

"The mission of Pilots for Patients is to provide free air transportation to those patients needing diagnosis and treatments at medical facilities not available to them locally. Our goal is to eliminate the burden of travel allowing the patient to concentrate on getting well."

Wow- what an amazing organization!! 

Brent and I are always thinking about what our next "Shirt That Gives Back" will be. And it never fails, something just falls into place or just lands in our lap that we know we need to help. I believe this is God for sure.   I was scanning through Facebook one day and catching up on the latest on my cousin Mindy Jones.

Her grandfather Oscar Head and my dad are cousins. Im not exactly sure what number this makes us down the line-3rd cousins?? She has been battling melanoma cancer for awhile now and has a special Facebook page called "Keeping Up with the Joneses: Mindy's Journey". Mindy is a wife and mother and an incredible Christian woman that WALKS THE WALK!! I am always in awe of her strength and passion for the Lord even through the ups and downs she has faced in this journey. One thing that caught my attention on her posts was that she has used the Pilot for Patient program to get her to MD Anderson. What is that?? 

Well, it is a group of pilots started by Philip Thomas.

(here he is with Mindy )

that flies people who are sick or need help to medical facilities like Md Anderson in Houston. Mr Thomas has flown 245 missions as of 3/3/15!!

(Here is a pic of a write up in the local paper about the 2000th mission)

It is completely free to these passengers like Mindy. Brent went one day back in Jan. to meet Mindy and Mr Thomas. He was so moved by the whole experience of meeting them.

He came home talking about all the photographs on the walls he saw of passengers he knew personally that had used Pilots for Patients. Brent took a lot of photos of the office, one of the planes

,

Pilot Recognition

Nice abstract painting by Joy Surles

etc  and knew without a shadow of a doubt that we needed to do a tee to help this group. 

Mindy had told us about a special pilot named Bo Hunter that she liked (although she adores them all!)

He has flown 97 missions as of 3/3/15. He actually flew for Angel Flights before that, and was in the Navy before that.  I got to visit with him on the phone one day and learned that he lived in Lemont, Texas and has flown for Pilots for Patients since it was first began in 2008. He is also a ground school instructor and didn't get his license until 1970 when he was around 44 years old.

      

Bo with another family on a mission

Mindy shared with me that Every time they go to say goodbye-whether in person or on the phone, He ALWAYS tells then to have a blessed day. And, when they fly with him, he always has two paper bags for them with a Hawaiian Punch drink and a muffin to eat. What a sweet man!! 

Here is a pic of Mindy and her husband Chris with Bo.

 Bo flies a really cool plane (Piper Arrow) that he said the Louisiana people call the "LSU Plane"!! Its not purple, but the blue and yellow color of the plane are very vibrant and eye catching. I asked him what the the numbers and letters meant on the side of the plane "N608" He said the "N" was for "November" and the 608 was the call sign.

Initial sketch

Working on the shading

All the stuff I had in front of me to help get the drawing correct

We are so excited to of been able to created a vintage looking design of Bo's plane. We struggled for awhile on what wording to put on it, but finally were happy with the PFP-08 representing Pilots For Patients and the year it was started. 

We have this tee available in adult (S-XXL) $28 and youth (2t-youth 12) $24. We put it on the nicest tri-bled athletic gray tee by American Apparel. They are 50% Poly, 25% cotton and 25% rayon. Please note that the youth tees run a little small, so when in doubt, order up a size.

15% of every tee sold will be given to Pilots for Patients. We have these tees available on line at www.mrpstees.bigcartel.com and will also have them available this week at Ksera Boutique in West Monroe, LA behind Tyner Petrus AND we will have them at the big Junior League Spring Market event next weekend, March 13th-15th at the Monroe Civic Center. 


For more info on Pilots for Patients, visit them on the web at www.pilotsforpatients.org.


Thanks for reading
Love
Lissy