US teens pilot ‘oatmeal airlift’ to the Bahamas
Jett and Luke Justin, 16-year-old twin brothers and founders of the charity Cereal4all, successfully carried out an “Oatmeal Airlift” this month.
By combining their passions for aviation and fighting hunger,…
Jett and Luke Justin, 16-year-old twin brothers and founders of the charity Cereal4all, successfully carried out an “Oatmeal Airlift” this month.
By combining their passions for aviation and fighting hunger, the brothers organised the unique mission that saw them fly over one thousand packets of oats from South Florida to Freeport in Grand Bahama Island.
The Justin brothers delivered the cereal and charitable funds to the island thanks to a partnership they formed with the Grand Bahama government, First Watch, and NBA basketball player Buddy Hield of the Philadelphia 76ers, who was born in Freeport.
Jett and Luke are student pilots, so they flew the airlift under the guidance of their instructor, Ken Morgenbesser of K & A Aviation.
Jett and Luke created the Cereal4all nonprofit in 2016 when they were just third-graders who recognised a shortage of breakfast food donations while volunteering at their local food bank in Boca Raton, FL.
Since then, Cereal4all has teamed up with students, schools, and food banks across America to provide over 300,000 bowls of cereal to families struggling with food insecurity.
The brothers believe that the happy connection young people have with cereal helps them think about the hunger struggles of others in a more personal way.
“We created Cereal4all because millions of American families suffer from food insecurity, which means they can’t always afford enough meals for everyone in their homes,” said Luke Justin.
“Those families depend on food banks for hunger relief, but since breakfast food is one of the least donated items, it’s not hard to imagine empty breakfast tables across the country.”
“Our nonprofit’s motto is ‘Breakfast and Happiness For Those Who Need it Most’, and we’re always trying to find new ways to accomplish that,” said Jett Justin.
“We thought up the Oatmeal Airlift during a flying lesson over South Florida. We were looking across the ocean and wondered if we could fly some breakfast and happiness to our neighbors in the Bahamas.”
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