A Guiding Light
Heather Gordon, manager of compensation for Continental, never thought a blind date would turn out so great. The date led not only to her 11-years-and-counting marriage, but also to a volunteer career with the Lighthouse Charity Team, which provides equipment and volunteer labor to prepare meals for charitable organizations. "The Lighthouse Charity Team is about people helping people," Gordon says. "We have commercial, custom mobile equipment to prepare food onsite for charities that are raising money."
The team has 15 portable trailers that can prepare up to 1,000 meals wherever an event is held. "We can do just about any food," Gordon says. "Our volunteers have different food preparation skills, and those who don't cook bring along other talents to help out."
The charities that receive the money from the event provide the food. "Whatever money is made from the event goes to the charity hosting the event," Gordon explains. The team is fully self-contained and builds and repairs all its equipment. "Our commercial kitchen, known as the shed, is in our backyard," Gordon says. "We have a small fleet of trucks to deliver food if no actual onsite cooking is required, and for some charities, we prepare the food and they come to the shed and pick it up."
Gordon and the Lighthouse Charity Team have helped organizations like the Boy Scouts, Jaycees, and the Friends-wood Fire Department in Texas. The group doesn't care about the size of the organization. "We are here to help anyone we can who asks."
After Hurricane Ike struck in 2008, Gordon and the team immediately began to prepare meals and plot a way to deliver them to emergency responders in Galveston. "At first we had to shuttle everything from our kitchen in warming trays to the island," says Gordon. "We were soon granted access to the city and set up our mobile kitchen at Moody Memorial Methodist Church. The mandate was to prepare hot and hearty food to anyone who needed a meal."
The team got its 15 minutes of fame when they cooked for the workers of the ABC TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at an event in Sabine Pass, Texas. But it's not about the notoriety, Gordon says. "Being a part of this team is just a part of my life." It's also a family affair that she continues to share with her husband, and now, with their 7-year-old son.
Visit lighthousecharityteam.com for more information about the Lighthouse Charity Team.
– Lora O'Riordan
Continental celebrates its 75th anniversary on July 15, 2009, and to celebrate, has ordered a new Boeing 737-900ER aircraft that will be painted in the design of one of Continental's historic liveries.
In an online contest, Continental employees voted on their choice of four historic liveries that have graced Continental's aircraft. They chose the Blue Skyways design, which flew on Continental's fleet from the late 1940s until the early 1960s.
Continental modernized its fleet in 1948, adding six Convair 240 twin-engine planes, the airline's first pressurized aircraft. Adding the new planes was a move to modernize the fleet, and with the new aircraft came a new livery - Blue Skyways.
The new Boeing 737-900ER represents Continental's commitment to operating a modern fleet. The aircraft will be delivered in June with the Blue Skyways livery, flying from the Boeing plant near Seattle, Wash., to Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport. The aircraft will then fly to Continental's two other hubs in Cleveland and New York/Newark on its inaugural tour before entering scheduled service. – L.O.
