For the employees at Kalitta Air, a worldwide leader in the air cargo industry owned by Conrad “Connie” Kalitta and based in Ypsilanti, Mich., it’s a matter of giving back to those who give so much to defend the freedoms of the United States of America. To show their appreciation to the service men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, Kalitta Air employees, employees of Kalitta Charters and Kalitta Motorsports, as well as the American Legion Post 274 in Oscoda, Mich., and other private entities recently contributed over $55,000 to send them special Fourth of July care packages.
 
Kalitta, a drag racing legend and pioneer, is also the owner and founder of Kalitta Motorsports, one of the most successful professional drag racing teams competing in the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. His nephew Doug Kalitta drives one of the team’s 8,000-horsepower, nitro-fueled Top Fuel dragsters. Doug is also the owner and operator of Kalitta Charters, an air charter company specializing in executive charters, air ambulance services, and air cargo.

For the employees at Kalitta Air, a worldwide leader in the air cargo industry owned by Conrad “Connie” Kalitta and based in Ypsilanti, Mich., it’s a matter of giving back to those who give so much to defend the freedoms of the United States of America. To show their appreciation to the service men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, Kalitta Air employees, employees of Kalitta Charters and Kalitta Motorsports, as well as the American Legion Post 274 in Oscoda, Mich., and other private entities recently contributed over $55,000 to send them special Fourth of July care packages.
 
Kalitta, a drag racing legend and pioneer, is also the owner and founder of Kalitta Motorsports, one of the most successful professional drag racing teams competing in the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. His nephew Doug Kalitta drives one of the team’s 8,000-horsepower, nitro-fueled Top Fuel dragsters. Doug is also the owner and operator of Kalitta Charters, an air charter company specializing in executive charters, air ambulance services, and air cargo.
 
Using an assembly line process in the hangar at Kalitta Air’s Operations facility in Ypsilanti employees of the Kalitta companies, volunteers, and local school students packed nearly 650 care packages. Each package contained a wide variety of items including cereal, candy, and iTunes gift cards, and each package contained enough items for up to 10 soldiers.
 
The packages also included letters and cards written by students at Cedar Lake Elementary in Oscoda, Mich., Richardson Elementary Middle School in Oscoda, New Morning School in Plymouth, Mich., Erickson Elementary School in Ypsilanti, Mich., Tyler Elementary School in Belleville, Mich., Belleville High School in Belleville, North Middle School in Belleville, South Middle School in Belleville, LaGrange Elementary School in Toledo, Ohio, and Laurel Oak Elementary in Naples, Fla.
 
Each package contained at least four letters written by the children.
 
“Some of the kids have already gotten letters back from the soldiers and we’re all very excited about that,” Jennifer Radtke, a Kalitta Air quality control specialist and member of the Kalitta Troop Support Delivery Team, said. “It’s been an amazing and life-changing experience for all of us.”
 
After the packages were boxed up, they were loaded into large shipping boxes and trucked by donated Con-Way trucking assets to the Kalitta Air facility in Oscoda and loaded onto one of Kalitta Air’s 747. The loaded plane then flew to Newark, N.J., to fulfill its load with troop mail under Kalitta Air’s contract to carry all U.S. mail for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan from the east coast. The plane then continued on directly to Bahrain, the company’s international mail hub for the Iraq/Afghanistan theater. The packages were then finally flown by Kalitta Air’s mail contract sub-contractor DHL, who also serves as primary sponsor on Kalitta Motorsports’ DHL Funny Car driven by Jeff Arend, to forward bases and subsequent final delivery to troops prior to July, 4.
 
“It’s truly an honor for us to be able to do this,” Connie, known in his drag racing driver days as “the Bounty Hunter”, said. “Through our companies we had a unique opportunity to make this contribution to the U.S. men and women that bravely fight for our freedoms on a daily basis. With the resources we have available, it was our duty to give them this token of our appreciation.”
 
A photo gallery of all the activities surrounding this special event can be viewed online at the following address:

http://www.kalittaair.com/News_files/Flash/index.html