Christopher Roy
by Christopher Roy, Director Minnesota DOT Office of Aeronautics
The Mn/DOT Office of Aeronautics has a program for airports and their communities called “Adopt-An-Airport.” Any public-use airport in Minnesota is eligible to participate in the program. It provides a means by which communities may become involved in their local airports and assist in the maintenance and beautification of airport facilities.
The Adopt-An-Airport program involves an airport agreeing to participate in the program and becoming available for adoption. Local civic and community groups or individuals can adopt the airport which means they volunteer their time to assist the airport manager or operator with activities mutually agreed upon.
The Minnesota Adopt-An-Airport Program promotes increased awareness of the advantages and social and economic impacts that airports have on their cities. It serves to educate the community about aviation and aviation careers and promotes understanding about what activities take place at an airport.
Both the airport and its volunteer groups receive signs indicating their participation in the program that are placed in a very visible location such as the entrance to the airport. The signs promote the program to the public and give recognition to the volunteer groups.
For information or participation in the Adopt-An-Airport program, please contact the Adopt-An-Airport Coordinator, Janese Thatcher at 651-234-7183, 800-657-3922 or e-mail: janese.thatcher@state.mn.us.
With that in mind you might ask, are there any benefits to adopting my airport? The answer is, absolutely!
Benefits to the volunteers:
• Increased awareness and more support of the airport.
• Provides opportunities to learn about aviation and what takes place at the airport.
• Recognizes the volunteers by name in the community as supporting the airport.
• Provides very positive and unique free publicity.
Benefits to the airport:
• Fosters better relations with their communities and local individuals.
• Helps to beautify the airport and facilities.
• Builds increasingly stronger grassroots support.
• Increases potential for more customers at the airport.
• Increases attractiveness of the airport for the community and the airport tenants.
• Gives positive publicity to the airport.
Benefits to the community:
• Gives positive publicity to the community.
• Provides a source of joint activity for the good of the community.
• Get’s people interested in flying and in various career fields in aviation once they are exposed to it.
• Helps area citizens to understand how important and valuable the airport is to their community.
• Excites and motivates groups and individuals to do something positive and important for the airport and the community, because the airport IS the community’s “front-door” to the world.
Now, contact your airport manager and get started adopting your airport!
