The Impact: Nearly 800 volunteers were mobilized during Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum’s (TAM) first annual MLK Day of Service named “Operation Hangar Cleanup”. Nearly 3,000 total hours were logged. Many of the volunteers were families and students from Compton Unified School District that learned MLK Day is a day on and not a day off. UPS painted the Sky Lab and donated $10,000 for new desks, conference table and other materials to renovate the computer center for the Aero Squad Afterschool Program at TAM. Additional in-kind donations were received from Pacific Coast Waste Management, Starbucks, Home Depot, and dozens of individuals to execute Operation Hangar Cleanup.

 

TAM’s first AmeriCorps*VISTA member Kyle Conover was in a meeting with TAM staff and board member to discuss the organization’s need to clean and organize the hangar. He suggested that this project should launch on MLK Day – a nationwide day of service, and the group agreed. Kyle used his volunteer experience and research on MLKday.gov to coordinate with TAM Staff and volunteers forming an MLK Day Planning Committee, which produced a project plan, flyer, donation request letter, press release, and received media coverage on KTLA (Channel 5) morning news, social media and other websites.

 

Accomplishments (what got done):

Painted the inside of the 7000 square foot hangar

Painted the Tuskegee Airmen "museum" wall

Painted the Sky Lab Computer Center

Painted the AmeriCorps VISTAs' Office

Painted the Sky Cafe

Installed Astroturf in Sky Cafe area

Painted the balcony

Moved out tons of waste (literally), to make room for our STEM Lab

Washed the airplanes

Networking with volunteers, allowing for future volunteer opportunities at TAM including tutoring

 

VIP participation:

Hyepin Im (CNCS Board Member)

Jurnee Smollett (Actress; MLK Day Ambassador)

Omarosa (Actress; TAM Board Vice-Chair)

Lashanda Holmes (First African-American Female Pilot in the Coast Guard)

Tuskegee Airmen

Renee Cobb (District Administrator, Compton Unified School District)

Barbara Calhoun (Councilwoman, City of Compton)

Bishop LJ Guillory (Ombudsman for Ombudsman International)

George Gibbs (Community Affairs Manager, Human Resources, West Region, UPS)

Horie Taylor (Chief, Compton School Police Department)

Alfredo Flores (Councilman, City of Lynwood)

Mel Howard (Partner, Pacific Coast Waste and Recycling)

Cazzie Burns (District Representative, Office of Senator Roderick Wright)

Gayle Anderson (Reporter, KTLA)

 

The event garnered tons of community support and honor. TAM Board Member Mark Collins stated, “I love it when a plan comes together! Operation Hangar Clean up was a great success. I'm honored to be a part of such a motivated and supportive group of people. I look forward to us continuously improving the museums capability to serve the children who use its many resources.” Volunteer Nichole King-Campbell praised Kyle’s service saying, “[Kyle] was on the postings, was around observing making notes and taking care of issues. I really liked the diversity of the volunteers (young, seasoned, school, church, community) it was awesome!”