gmhTODAY Summer 2022 | Page 27

to make awareness about CalDART fun . CalDART has an annual practice exercise event , complete with food and music , that is open to the community . This year ’ s event is still in its early planning stages , but Marshall expects it will happen between November and December , and he encourages the public to get involved . People who aren ’ t pilots can still join CalDART for free as friends , so that Cal- DART can reach out to them when they need volunteers .
Luck favors the prepared . While Marshall acknowledges that you can ’ t plan for every disaster scenario , he believes CalDART can limit the amount of suffering . “ If you have a history of doing flight exercises every year , when you ’ re presented with a new challenge you ’ re able to overcome it more quickly and effectively ,” he explained . So whenever the next big disaster comes around , CalDART will be ready .
MAIN IMAGE : CalDART is a registered 501c3 Nonprofit providing volunteer air services to communities facing disaster . ABOVE : CalDART volunteer . NEXT : CalDART Director and President , Paul Marshall ( pictured ) and Ron Pharis organized the first DART at San Martin Airport in 2008 . NEXT : CalDART member pilot associations . NEXT : CalDART member pilots with Red Cross emergency packages . RIGHT TOP : Roger Winters , Morgan Hill OES volunteer gives tour of SCAPA Cal DART HQ / command center at San Martin Airport . NEXT : KWVI Ops board in Watsonville . NEXT : SCAPA members at the San Martin Airport Food Truck Fly-in 2022 . NEXT : DART Team Rubicon . RIGHT : Paul Marshall at San Martin Airport .
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