It’s surreal to live during a time like this. One minute, you were casually shopping for a new pair of shoes at the mall. The next minute, your whole world was flipped upside-down as you learned to process the uncertainty we’re currently going through on a global level. And now your local mall is closed, many people in public are wearing gloves and masks, and hospitals are reporting scarcity of necessary supplies. It’s like the world has gone mad.
Regardless of how scared many of us are right now, there are still great people out there doing good things for those who need it. An example of a very helpful individual right now is 16-year-old pilot, TJ Kim, who has been gathering life-altering equipment for hospitals and delivering them by plane. Did I mention Kim recently received flight training as a gift for his 15th birthday?! Yes, really.
“Everything was kind of taken from me, lacrosse season ended, the school year is effectively over, and all I really had left was flight training,” the teen said.
Now, his spare time involves delivering the necessary medical equipment to small, rural hospitals in Virginia that are lacking supplies at this time. One of his most recent deliveries included 3,000 medical gloves, 1,000 headcovers, 500 shoe covers, 50 non-surgical masks, 20 pairs of protective eyewear, and 10 hand sanitizer bottles.
“They kind of conveyed to me that they were really forgotten about,” the teen pilot said. “Everyone was wanting to send donations to big city hospitals. Every hospital is hurting for supplies, but it’s the rural hospitals that really feel forgotten. After I landed, all I could think about was going back up.”
By offering to fly this equipment, the sophomore is not only helping hospitals get what they need to keep patients as healthy as possible during the virus, but he’s helping expedite the shipment thanks to his recent-earned pilot skills. What an awesome kid!
“This is a great example of someone making who was given lemons and made lemonade. He is helping hospitals AND will have something nice to write when it comes to college application time. Kudos kid, for doing something awesome,” someone said after hearing about Kim’s good deed.
Kim has only been delivering supplies since March 27, 2020 by plane as part of his impressive “Operation SOS — Supplies Over Skies” project. Although he’s still very new to flying planes, the 16-year-old wishes to one day attend the Naval Academy and become a professional pilot. Big dreams – way to go!
Meet the 16-year-old future pilot below.
