OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — Thousands of volunteers help make EAA AirVenture possible each year, including 89-year-old seasoned volunteer Donald Duck.
- Donald Duck, 89, has volunteered at EAA AirVenture since 1982.
- Duck is one of 88 maintenance support volunteers at the Fly-In.
- About 5,000 volunteers help run AirVenture every year, according to a volunteer chairman.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story, edited for web)
"It is the mecca of aviation....this is the one place to come and see everything," Cindy Martin, an EAA AirVenture Volunteer says.
Some call it the 'Mecca,' some call it the 'Disney Land of Aviation' — a nickname that takes on a whole new meaning for one maintenance support volunteer.
"My first name is Donald, my last name is Duck," Donald Duck says. "A lot of people don’t believe me, I got to show them my drivers license many times."
Duck has been volunteering at EAA AirVenture since 1982.
"Paul Poberezny, the founder here who I got to know pretty well, he always says it’s not the airplanes, it’s the people," Duck says. "Seeing the old people once a year, it's kind of like a reunion deal."
And he's been a fan of airplanes for longer than that.
"It gets in your blood and you just can’t get it out," he says. "I had the aviation bug when I was probably 8 or 10 years old.”
Watch the full broadcast story here:
Duck is one of the maintenance support volunteers, who help build and set up the grounds before visitors come.
"We have 88 volunteers that come from all over the United States," Martin says. "We’re like a family.”
It's a family reunion that Duck, who is 89 years old this year, never takes for granted.
"It’s going to be hard to give it up... I don’t know if when I’m 90 if I'll make it or not, but it’s one year at a time," he says. "This is something the guy up above us is going to tell us.”
