For many years, the City of Phoenix Aviation Department has partnered with Herrera School in a number of ways. But we began a more active partnership in 2018, which included airport tours for students and classroom speakers. That year, the school reached out to Sky Harbor Community Relations as they planned their annual Reindeer Run Event. This event gives students the opportunity to earn raffle tickets as they run laps around the school gymnasium. The school raffles off turkeys, hams, and grocery store gift cards for students to bring home to their families. The school asked the Phoenix Aviation Department if we could help promote donations of turkeys, hams, and gift cards for the raffle. The response was excellent. Airport concessions partners and employees came through with dozens of hams and turkeys.

Since then, support for the Reindeer Run has become an annual tradition for the Phoenix Aviation Department and our business partners. Last year, we teamed up to provide nearly $1,400 in grocery store gift cards, and more than 125 hams and turkeys. Nava Singam with Kind Hospitality donated 50 turkeys this year with Customs & Border Protection providing hams and turkeys as well. In addition, SSP America, Paradies Lagardere, S. Levy Foods, and numerous aviation employees gave gift cards, hams, and turkeys.

Pictured from left: Dr. Larry Weeks, Superintendent of Phoenix Elementary School District, Supervisor Henry Alipusan of Customs & Border Protection, Phoenix City Councilmember Carlos Garcia, Carlos Ardon, Principal of Herrera School for the Arts and Dual Language, Chad Makovsky, Director of Aviation Services, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Nava Singam, CEO of Kind Hospitality, and Jason Gitkin, Community Outreach/Events Manager, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

And, our Navigator volunteers not only help people in our terminals, but in our community as well. This holiday season they were very generous and collected items for those in need as part of two holiday donation drives. Volunteers contributed a box full of scooters and toys for the Salvation Army’s Forgotten Angel program and more than 300 canned food items were also donated to St. Mary’s Food Bank. Pictured here, our employees are loading up donations from our Navigators. Way to go volunteers!

City of Phoenix Aviation Department employees also participated in the Christmas Angels Program. Employees adopted 150 Christmas Angels and donated approximately 500 items for the Forgotten Angels, which included clothes, toys for children from newborn to 12 years old, books, arts and crafts, scooters and bikes.

So many children throughout the community woke up to smiles on their faces because of the generous donations from Aviation employees.