USAF: 57 Annual Christmas Drop December 16-19
Guam - The Air Force will parachute more than 10 tons of donated items to Pacific Islanders throughout Micronesia during the 57th annual Operation Christmas Drop December 16-19.
Operation Christmas Drop kicks off with a "push ceremony" where representatives from the local community and members from Team Andersen will load boxes onto a C-130H that will conduct the drops. This year the push ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 15 in Hangar 6 at 0900.
Media wishing to cover the push ceremony and/or the actual drops should contact Staff Sgt. Jamie Lessard at (671) 366-2228 or e-mail Jamie.lessard@andersen.af.mil for more information no later than 1200, Tuesday, 8 Dec. Please be prepared to provide name, media credentials, SSN and/or PPN. Media flights are limited to the 17th and 18th and are on a first come first serve bases. However, B-roll footage will be available upon request.
Operation Christmas Drop is a non-profit organization powered by volunteers from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam and the local community that have to date dropped over 800,000 pounds of goods throughout the islands since Operation Christmas Drop inception.
The operation began in December of 1952 when locals on the island of Kapingamarangi waved to the crew of a WB-50 flying overhead. In the spirit of the holiday season, the crew gathered what they could, packed it into a canister, attached a parachute and dropped the goods to the islanders.
Today, the men and women of the U.S. Air Force, the University of Guam, media, local government, businesses, individuals and professional and charitable organizations work together to collect cash and merchandise to deliver toys, clothing, fishing equipment, sporting goods, food items and tools to the remote islands and atolls in the area.
