'Precious experience,' Non-profit Above the Clouds helps kids facing adversity with dream flights
NORWOOD - Above the Clouds, a non-profit organization founded in 2012 by Gary Oberstein, is bringing levity and happiness to kids in tough situations.
Oberstein's passion was to pair his love for aviation with kids who were seriously ill, disabled or facing adversity. He would give them dream flights out of Norwood Memorial Airport.
"Taking the kids out of their normal environment, getting them up in the air above their world, above the clouds, is a really precious experience," Above the Clouds Executive Director Marcy Venezia told WBZ-TV.
The organization does dream flights one weekend a month and about a hundred dream flights per year and that day is the best day for everyone involved.
"They just take on that role, they see that opportunity for themselves," said Program Coordinator Marie Freisleben.
"It feels like we have done something very positive that changes their lives for the better," volunteer Garrett MacDonald told WBZ.
And it's all about the mood change.
"Complete transformation. They are solemn and they are quiet and they are listening and when they come back they are just beaming," Venezia said.
Now after the flight, the joy for the kids is not done. They get a swag bag that has flying glasses and a jacket with their name on it.
"To be able to see that this is possible for me. I have the jacket, I have the glasses, I can do this," Freisleben said.
"We give it our all when it comes to that hope and joy and hopefully it's something for them to always make sure that they remember," said MacDonald.
For more information, visit their website.
