As Westporters prepare to donate desperately needed supplies to Puerto Rico this afternoon, one Westporter is already helping the hurricane-battered island.
On Friday, the Daily Beast profiled Paul Weissman. He left his wife and 3 sons to pilot his own plane, filled with necessities.
The story begins:
Paul Weismann got the call for help Monday night at his home in Connecticut. By Tuesday afternoon, he was flying to Puerto Rico on his personal plane, with food, water, and power generators as his passengers.
“You fly over Puerto Rico on the way to the airport, and you see the place is wrecked,” Weismann told The Daily Beast. At night, “a few streets and highways are lit up, because of people and businesses with generators. But the rest of the island was just pitch black.”
After landing on the island destroyed by Hurricane Maria last week, Weismann reloaded his plane — this time with young children, mothers, and senior citizens — and took off for the U.S. mainland.
Weismann isn’t a professional rescue pilot though. He’s a Connecticut-based investor working with Patient Airlift Services (PALS), a network of volunteer pilots. PALS mobilized pilots from across the U.S. to help Texas, Florida, and now Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands this hurricane season.
It’s quite a story. To read the rest, click here.
(Hat tip: Christine Meiers Schatz)
Paul Weissman, on a rescue mission.
This article about Mr. Weissman and the PALS group brought tears to my eyes. Renews one faith in humanity. You are a hero Mr. Wiseman.
Where can we donate to PALS for supplies?
Thank you for your courageous and selfless service.
Thanks, Frannie. Here is the website: http://www.palservices.org/
Thank you so much.
Paul you and your team are awesome! Thank you. God bless you!
Hi all,
Thank you very much Dan for sharing this story, I really appreciate it.
Frannie, Dan is exactly right, you can donate to PALS at:
http://www.palservices.org
However, please be advised that PALS isn’t actually buying supplies for these efforts. Other non-profits, corporations, individuals etc are donating supplies in mass quantities. People are sending pallets and tractor trailers of supplies. The problem has been to find aircraft to get them there. Private aircraft are usually pretty small and not designed to haul cargo, so it’s tough to keep the flow up.
This is PALS specialty, finding people and companies with airplanes that they are willing to pack full of whatever aid they can and fly it into the area. They could use any help you are willing to give!!!
I also flew to Dominica on Thursday, that island is in very bad shape as well.
There isn’t much aid going there yet…
Thank you all so much for offering to help
Paul
awesome story…. truly inspiring
Commendable. At last someone and something to applaud in these toxic times.