What’s New
Sharing the dream
BNAN-SC takes Boeing South Carolina’s DreamLearners program across the enterprise to inspire Native American youth.
Students from Woodlands Public Schools in Fairfax, Oklahoma participate in a virtual DreamLearners STEM activity led by BNAN-SC members. (Provided photo)
Native American tribal students across the country now have a better understanding of Boeing and the aerospace industry, thanks to an outreach initiative led by the South Carolina chapter of the Boeing Native American Network (BNAN). It’s one of Boeing’s teammate-led business resource groups.“When I was growing up in Oklahoma, there wasn’t any kind of outreach from companies that I saw. When I began working at Boeing South Carolina, I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be great if they had something like the DreamLearners program in my hometown’,” said Nalena Kennett, Transportation, Warehouse and Logistics project manager and co-chair of BNAN, South Carolina.
Part of BNAN’s mission is to serve the Native American youth. With the help of Frank Hatten, the Boeing education relations specialist who developed and leads DreamLearners, Kennett hosted virtual DreamLearners sessions for tribal communities across the United States. To date, approximately 1,600 students and community members across six states have participated.
Learn more about the DreamLearners program and how it is spreading across the U.S. here.
Boeing donates $150,000 to Lowcountry Food Bank to support childhood hunger programs
At a November Lowcountry Food Bank (LCFB) food distribution at Devon Forest Elementary School in Goose Creek, Boeing announced a donation of $150,000 to LCFB’s childhood hunger programs.
Boeing’s investment provides a total of more than 165,000 nutritious meals to more than 23,000 neighbors who struggle with hunger, including 13,000 children.
Ziad “Z” Ojakli, Executive Vice President of Government Relations at Boeing (right), presented Nick Osborne, President and CEO of the Lowcountry Food Bank (left), with Boeing’s $150,000 investment.
BSC teammates were on hand to help the LCFB during the food distribution event at Devon Forest Elementary School in Goose Creek.
This continued partnership between Boeing and LCFB to fight childhood hunger includes investment in the LCFB Food for Health Initiative, which will pair LCFB services with at least four health care clinics in 2022 to serve rural communities in coastal South Carolina.
Read more about this important organization and its impact in the Lowcountry community here.
Help is available for South Carolina’s veteran population
The Veterans Legal Clinic at the University of South Carolina will continue and expand its free services to low-income veterans living in South Carolina with support from a $225,000 grant from Boeing.
The clinic at the South Carolina School of Law assists veterans who are facing issues with credit and related financial matters, housing, government benefits and family law. It was established in 2018 by grants from Boeing and the South Carolina Bar Foundation. Boeing continues its support of the clinic with a new grant announced Nov. 11.
Learn more about how this program is helping veterans across South Carolina here.
BSC teammates gave back during the recent giving season. In total, they volunteered more than 12,000 hours across the Lowcountry in 2021.
BSC teammates donated more than 350 bikes and 27 boxes of toys to the Marine Toys for Tots program. Thanks to the community’s generosity, thousands of toys were delivered to Charleston families on Christmas Day.
A special thank you to WCBD’s Rob Fowler for featuring BSC’s donations during his 20 Days of Giving program. Watch the interview clip here.
BSC teammates participated in Charleston Hope’s annual Adopt A Classroom program by donating toys and classroom essentials to students and educators at Mitchell Elementary & Sanders-Clyde Elementary schools. Teammates fulfilled 25 classroom wish lists, which were valued at almost $5,000. (Photo credit: Charleston Hope)
Following the Thanksgiving holiday, Boeing launched Impact Week on Giving Tuesday to encourage teammates to commit to making a difference in their communities. Some of our BSC teammates took advantage of the opportunity to get their hands dirty with The Green Heart Project and clean up the outdoor classroom and garden at Mitchell Elementary School.
Another group of teammates volunteered with Soldiers’ Angels to box lunches that included personalized notes for local veterans.
Partner Spotlight
Congratulations to Turn90 on opening its second location in Columbia
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster and other state representatives join Turn90 for the ribbon cutting of the group’s Columbia location.
The Charleston-based program recently opened a new location in Columbia. The program will now serve 50 men per year in Charleston and 50 men in Columbia – doubling its impact.
Thank you to the Turn90 staff and board for your incredible work and your partnership, and congratulations to the men who are pushing forward with positive change.
Did you know?
This is the first C-17 to achieve 25,000 flight hours
The U.S. Air Force celebrated its first C-17 Globemaster III to achieve 25,000 flight hours in November. The milestone was commemorated with a ceremonial flight at Joint Base Charleston, where Boeing delivered the first production Globemaster III in 1993.
Boeing built every C-17 and supports the global fleet of 275 aircraft, which surpassed 4 million flight hours earlier in 2021.
As a global workhorse used to support military transport, airdrop, medivac and disaster relief missions, the C-17 fleet achieved this flight-hour benchmark faster than nearly any other Air Force fleet, which Boeing vice president of C-17 Services Mark Angelo attributes to the platform’s best-in-class readiness rates.