Release # 04.FDX
December 14, 2004

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — In the spirit of giving this holiday season, FedEx pilots will once again deliver food baskets and gifts to Hope House, a Memphis day-care center devoted to children who have been affected by or infected with HIV/AIDS. The pilots will make their visit to Hope House on Wednesday, December 15, at 11 a.m.

Through the Pilots for Kids program, FedEx pilots help more than 20 families and 30 children in Memphis celebrate Christmas. As part of this annual tradition, FedEx pilots contribute food, gifts, clothing, and money in support of children and families in need.

Separate groups of FedEx pilots in Anchorage, Chicago, and Indianapolis will make similar visits to deliver gifts to schools and hospitals in those cities during the month of December.

"These visits provide our pilots with a great opportunity to reach out to the communities in which we live and touch the lives of children and families who are less fortunate than we are," said Captain David Webb, chairman of the Fedex Master Executive Council (MEC), a unit of the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA). "It reminds us what the true spirit of the holiday season is."

Pilots for Kids is an international, non-profit program formed in 1983 to provide toys to hospitalized children during the holidays. Today, the program includes airline crewmembers and corporate, military, and private pilots as well as aviation enthusiasts from across the country who visit thousands of children in shelters, orphanages, halfway houses, day-care centers, and hospitals throughout the year.

In addition to toys, members also donate clothing, wheelchairs, hospital beds, special equipment, and meals to meet a variety of children’s needs.

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world's oldest and largest pilot union representing 64,000 pilots at 43 airlines in the United States. and Canada. Visit the ALPA website at http://www.alpa.org.

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ALPA Contact: Scott Sherrin, (901) 842-2220