SEBASTIAN — Inside the administration building at the Sebastian Municipal Airport sits a tall box brimming with crayons, pencils, notebooks and more. For the last couple weeks, visitors to the building have brought school supplies to help Fellsmere’s Operation Hope fill backpacks that are to be given away this weekend.
“We’re pretty tied into Operation Hope,” said LoPresti Aviation’s Administrative Assistant Mimi Erskine.
The company has stepped forward to be a school supply drop-off site for the organization’s annual Backpack Giveaway, which will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. at Operation Hope, 12285 County Road 512, Fellsmere.
Though Operation Hope’s people plan to come to the airport later today to pick up what’s been left for the giveaway, Erskine said LoPresti’s people intend to hand deliver anything else that’s dropped off between Wednesday and the event.
Every year, Operation Hope stuffs as many backpacks as it receives with school supplies based on grade level. Last year, an estimated 1,000 children went back to school armed with a new backpack and the supplies they would need to make it through their classes.
“It just seems more real, more tangible,” Erskine said of helping a local group such as Operation Hope. “It’s in your neighborhood.”
Erskine said LoPresti Aviation feels an extra connection to Operation Hope because of its strong family bonds.
“It’s really centered on family,” Erskine said of the Fellsmere organization. “That’s important to us because LoPresti is a family company.”
Both Erskine and Curtis LoPresti, CEO of the aviation company, were hard-pressed to estimate how many supplies they had taken in. It took both of them to lift the box up on the stand next to the Fury in the lobby.
“There’s still more coming,” LoPresti said of the school supplies.
Anyone interested in helping fill backpacks for Operation Hope’s Backpack Giveaway on Saturday is encouraged to drop off supplies at the Administration Building at the Sebastian Municipal Airport between now and the event.
