Charter Jet Company Refunds Money To MSD Victim's Family, Makes Large Donation
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PARKLAND (CBSMiami) – Scott Beigel was a beloved teacher and cross country coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
He was killed during the Valentine's Day massacre while saving his students.
Beigel's mom Linda Schulman and his family rushed from New York to be here hours after the shooting.
Commercial flights were sold out so they had to charter a jet. Then they got the bill, a whopping $36-thousand dollars. Schulman took to Facebook.
"I have waited all this time in hopes that that owner of Talon Air, Inc. would show some compassion," she said. "but as you read on you will see that unfortunately he has not. Talon Air, Inc. not only charged us $18,229.57 one way, they charged us another $18229.56 to bring the plane back."
"...they offered us a $1000.00 discount or a $2000.00 donation to the charity of our choice."
That post was Monday night.
Less than a day later, Talon Air responded, sending a letter to the Schulman's.
The founder saying, "...I was shocked and heartsick when your Facebook post was brought to my attention..."
He went on, "...you will be refunded, today, $18,000 that you paid to Talon Air. Talon Air will also make a donation of $18,000 to the Scott J. Beigel Memorial Fund, Inc."
Schulman was grateful posting the letter and saying, "I want to thank Adam Katz, owner of Talon Air, Inc. for his offer, which I have accepted..."
Beigel's family and everyone involved now has another way to get financial help.
As of Tuesday, the Stoneman Douglas victim's fund is accepting applications from families, students, teachers and staff impacted by the shooting.
"They can use the money for however they would like to," said former US Senator George LeMieux, who is in charge of the Stoneman Douglas Victim's Fund. "If they want to use the money to pay for this plane charge, if they want to use this money for memorial, if they want to use this money for counseling, whatever they want to use the money for, it's an unrestricted gift."
That victim's fund now sits at more than $8 million.
They'll continue to take donations until the end of June, then distribute the money in July.
If you'd like to donate click here.