Challenge Air to get $20,000 from QSC

ST. PETE BEACH, FLA. — Quality Service Contractors raised $20,000 for Challenge Air, an aviation program that benefits physically challenged children and young people, through a charity golf tournament Feb. 23 just before its Power Meeting XXIV here as well as through individual donations.

In four Power Meetings, including this one, QSC members have raised $53,000, said QSC member Sonny Friedman of Atlas Plumbing & Heating in Dallas, who has coordinated the effort. QSC Industry Partner Hodes Co. sponsored the golf tournament and paid for golfing fees. Hodes Co. manufactures, assembles, packages and distributes plumbing products and tools to plumbing service shops through independent sales distributors. QSC members paid a $175 registration fee to play.

Besides the registration fees, several QSC members made individual donations. Those contributing $1,000 were Lynn Heidler, Steve Heidler, Roger Peugeot, Doug Santoro and Hodes Co. Joe Hodes made an additional donation of $300 to bring the total to an even $20,000, Friedman said.

The money raised will go to Challenge Air for Kids and Friends, a notfor-profit Texas-based organization that provides 20- to 30-minute flights to physically challenged children, young people and their families. The Challenge Air flights and related events are free to participating families and are underwritten by individual, philanthropic and corporate donors.

The money raised will be used toward operating costs associated with putting on "Fly Days" around the United States. Retired U.S. Navy Lt. Richard Owen Amber, a pilot who lost the use of his legs in 1971 in a crash that occurred while returning from a mission over Vietnam, founded Challenge Air in 1993. Amber died in 1997.

For more information about Challenge Air, go to http://www.challengeair.com, call 214/351-3353, fax 214/351-6002 or e-mail [email protected]. A schedule of events and details on how to get involved are included on the Website.

QSC, an enhanced service group of the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors - National Association, delivers training programs, products and services for its members. For more information about QSC, visit http://www.qsc-phcc.org