This teen pilot is flying supplies to hospitals in rural areas

TJ Kim, a 16-year-old from Virginia, is a high school student who doesn’t have a driving license yet, but he can fly. So he decided to use this ability to deliver desperately needed medical supplies to rural hospitals across Virginia.

Kim, a sophomore at Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland, brainstormed with his family in McLean, Virginia, about ways to keep active, and to serve the community while he had the time. They settled on Operation SOS — Supplies Over Skies.

Each week, Kim carries gloves, masks, gowns and other equipment to small hospitals. When he made his first delivery, on March 27 to a 25-bed hospital in Luray, he was taken aback by the reception.

“They kind of conveyed to me that they were really forgotten about. Everyone was wanting to send donations to big city hospitals,” he said. “Every hospital is hurting for supplies, but it’s the rural hospitals that really feel forgotten.”

Read more here: https://apnews.com/098d822f7eba7488f7aea67a1bb447a9