Santa Claus is flying to town in a red-nosed Piper Cherokee plane – or “sleigh,” as Fresno State professor Dr. Tamas Forgacs calls it..
Playing the role of Santa, Forgacs, a Fresno State mathematics professor and command pilot for Angel Flight West, departed from Fresno’s Chandler Airport on Dec. 10 and delivered a plane load of gifts from several Fresno State community members to a family in Fortuna.
The noble mission is an all-out effort, involving several pilots from different parts of the state, to give holiday cheer to one family.
Forgacs flew a friend’s Piper Cherokee to Reid Hillview Airport in San Jose, where he joined a fellow Angel Flight pilot, Paul Rekieta. The two pilots-turned-Santas loaded the gifts into Rekieta’s Piper Meridian, a bigger plane than the Cherokee, and flew to Fortuna in Humboldt County. In Fortuna, a third pilot, Jerry Kraemer, arriving from Orland, landed his plane with more gifts for the family.
Forgacs said every year, Angel Flight, an organization that provides free air transportation to families with a member undergoing medical treatment , brings together volunteer pilots who sign up as Santa Claus to spread holiday joy to families affected by a severe or terminal illness.
“I recruited about five people from Fresno State and a couple extra to help me buy the gifts for the family,” said Forgacs, who also doubles as a certified flight instructor. “Once the gifts are purchased and wrapped, we put them in a plane and fly them up to their family.”
He noted the exercise was essential to uplift the spirits of a family with a member facing critical illness because such situations affect the whole family.
The idea started during monthly get-togethers where Forgacs and his former students played card games.
“We started doing these white elephant gift exchanges. Then, at some point, we figured, ‘Well, there’s got to be something better we can do than buy each other gifts that, you know, sometimes hit, sometimes miss,” Forgacs said.
Having served for years as a command pilot for Angel Flight West, transporting families with medical needs, it was almost serendipitous the organization asked for pilots to fly Flights of Joy, delivering gifts to a family in need. This is the second straight year Forgacs has volunteered for the Flights of Joy.
“And so everybody involved in that, all those current and former Fresno State folks [who donated for gifts], thought it was a tremendous idea and are still participating.
Plans for next year’s expedition are underway. Forgacs said interest in the effort is growing, and he introduced two new volunteers from Fresno State – Millicent Byers, director of the McNair Program, and Marie Fisk, the academic coordinator of the McNair Program.
Besides Byers and Fisk, Forgacs said he received support from Dr. Carmen Caprau, the Department of Mathematics chair, mathematics professor Dr. Oscar Vega, and two math alumni, Danielle Woods and Stephen Detweiler.
Enthusiasm for the next trip is growing.
“Millie’s already in my ear about trying to get more families next year so that more people in Fresno State can get involved,” Forgacs said optimistically.
Byers said the exercise was a rewarding experience for her family, and she hopes more people will hear about the program and sign up to participate next year.
“The whole process was such a delightful counterweight to the heaviness of the world in which we live,” Byers said. “It was a wonderful reminder that we have ample opportunities to contribute to our community.”
