Here are some comments from those who have volunteered for this amazing program:
“When I first attended our AAI conference in Half Moon Bay at the YWCA. Learning that you and Margaret and I have same birthday. Margaret went to France one summer to help her daughter, and I helped with escorting program. And we didn’t have e-mails or cell phones and had to call each one of escorts on the list and left messages to call me back. When I couldn’t find anyone to escort, I escorted them myself. Those were the busy years. We handled several agencies. All those memories are my treasures.
Thank you Nancy for creating AAI, thank you Margaret for your dedication, thank you Wayne, Joanne, Connie for helping coordinate the trips and being there when we needed you!
I feel privileged to be a part of this circle of love. I look forward to get together at Paula’s memorial.”
Sincerely, Bunny Doi
The day back in 1995 when Nancy came to my house to meet me and discuss setting up this program is a wonderful memory I’ll always have.
Back then, we started out by primarily working with Healing the Children Northeast. Then there was a small adoption agency down in Thomasville, GA that began using our escorts. I loved arranging these escorts because I would meet the escort and baby in ATL at the gate. And yes, I well remember meeting Bunny there for the first time. That seemed like ages ago. I also remember meeting Kevin Smith, who was one of our busiest and NICEST escorts as he accompanied a child back to some African country, maybe Kenya. Kevin was an AA pilot and we all thought the world of him. Sadly, he passed away far too soon, and after he had found true happiness with his Chilean wife, Ximena. I still miss all those long talks I had with Kevin. I have met such kind, caring people through this program and will never forget them.
There’s one child, that I will never, ever forget. When she was 9 years old, Wushuang Yang was horribly burned in a house fire in her home in China. Sandy Clevenger,a F/A and also an RN accompanied her from PVG to CVG. Wushuang was in tremendous pain on the airplane and Sandy had to get permission to give her a pain shot during the flight. They arrived in ORD and Wushuang was again in too much pain to even get on the Eagle flight to CVG so Sandy rode with her in an ambulance that night all the way from ORD to CVG. She has made many trips since then back and forth
from CVG to PVG and Bunny has made several of these with her. Today Wushuang is a senior at Marian University in IND, on a scholarship, and will probably go on to grad school. will graduate next Spring with a double degree – biology and biomedical engineering. She interned this summer with Eli Lilly and is hopeful they will offer her a permanent position when she graduates. She is most interested in bio engineering and hopes to make a career in this field. I’ve told her that I’m just as proud of her as if she were my granddaughter.
I could go on and on, telling stories that some of you have already heard, some hilarious, some sad, but all having to do with helping a child to have a chance at a normal, productive life. This program has been a large part of my life since 1995-1996.
We’ll just have to wait and see how this all plays out. I would expect that we will still be working with Tami Shobe in Ohio, but she will not have nearly as many trips as before. Childspring in ATL may ask for our assistance very occasionally. Their original plan for 2020 was to bring kids from Jamaica, Honduras, El Salvador, Tanzania, and Iraq. I know that they have rearranged all this and found medical care in other countries for at least some of these kids So, bottom line, we will probably be asked to provide a few medical escorts once this Corona thing finally settles down, but not until it does.
Stay tuned.Love to all, Margaret Whitehead, (Director of Children’s Medical Escort Program)
“Soo great to “see” all of you last night. It’s amazing to me that we have worked together all these years, talked on the phone so many times, and only met in person once, twice, and sometimes never! What a team we were for AAI and all the kids we helped. So hate to see this come to an end, glad the decision was made to just put it on hold to see where the world goes with covid and where the agencies go with continuing bringing kids to the US. Look forward to chatting with you all again!” Wayne Lee
“I have some many beautiful memories with the kids that I escorted, it is such a great program special because every person who volunteer did it with all their heart and that was the main reason that was a successful program. I told Margaret that there is no better person to coordinate this program than her and maybe she should have a couple assistants…ha ha ha.
I understand that the situation now is very different around the world and I am sure that will never be the same but I have confidence that will better since we are learning from this experience to be more appreciative, patient, and giving to the people in need.
I am thankful for the generous donation to a Don Bosco orphanage in Peru in behalf of my parents memory, special to Margaret that she took the time, effort and love to make this happen.
Please let me know if there is something that I can help with the Children’s Medical Escort Program. 🦽 🦽 ”
Stay safe and healthy!! Katerina Garza