BBCC’s aviation programs lifted with $50,000 from Boeing
A Big Bend Aviation student uses one of the program’s airplane simulators.
Big Bend Community College
Big Bend Community College’s Aviation Maintenance Technology (AMT) and Commercial Pilot programs received a $50,000 donation from Boeing last week.
Boeing officials said Thursday in a release the gift was for Giving Tuesday, an initiative which promotes giving worldwide on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
The college will use the money to buy equipment and sponsor students, the release stated.
“Big Bend Community College is extremely grateful to be a beneficiary of Boeing’s generosity,” said BBCC President Sara Thompson Tweedy in a statement. “This donation will directly support the students in our Aviation Maintenance Technology and Commercial Pilot programs. Thank you, Boeing, for helping Big Bend’s aviators and mechanics fly!”
Boeing gave $10 million to 95 nonprofits statewide on Giving Tuesday to help focus “on education and workforce development, military and veterans, the environment, and racial equity,” the release stated.
“2020 has been nothing short of extraordinary as people in Washington and around the world navigate the historic impacts of COVID-19,” said Boeing spokesperson Deborah Feldman in the release. “Yet even as the aerospace industry faces unprecedented challenges presented by the pandemic, Boeing and its employees continue to rise to the challenge of helping people in need in our local communities.”
In September 2019, Boeing provided $100,000 toward the college’s aviation programs.
Boeing is the largest employer in the state, the release stated, and has had a presence for more than a century. It also trained pilots and tested planes in Moses Lake for several years.