The 101st (North Island) Squadron Annual Silent Auction to raise funds for the Port Hardy Airport Memorial Project, scholarships and Air Cadets, will be held at the Thunderbird Mall starting April 9.
The auction will be open starting April 9, Thursdays and Fridays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturdays from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.
“The airport authority is preparing to build a new terminal and has asked us for a commemorative plaque at the Port Hardy Airport recognizing its Royal Canadian Airforce history,” said Russ Hellberg, vice president of the 101st Squadron.
“It just so happens that after finishing our series on military crash sites in our area we have started on building memorials to all the RCAF stations so we chose to do the memorial to RCAF Station Port Hardy this year,” Hellberg said.
“We did RCAF Station Shearwater two years ago and have seven sites in total to do,” he said.
For the memorial the 101st Squadron needs about $2,000. The organization also donates $600 in scholarships, plus another $1,000 for military charity causes such as the Boomer Legacy which directly assists women and children affected by poverty and war in Afghanistan; and the Wounded Warriors Run.
“We used to a fish and chips wagon at all the fairs to raise money for our causes, then switched to the silent auction in 2011,” Hellberg said.
“We give two scholarships each year to both NISS (North Island Secondary School) and PHSS (Port Hardy Secondary School) to a student who shows leadership qualities, academic excellence and is continuing studies at a recognized post-secondary institution,” he said.
101 Squadron is part of 888 Wing (Comox) Royal Canadian Air Force Association.
Its mandate is to preserve the military and civilian aviation history of the North Island; to erect cairns commemorating military aviation occurrences that happened on the North Island and to support Air Cadets.
(Story on new terminal in our next issue)