It's difficult to imagine now just how frightening the days of the Cold War were. Americans built private bomb shelters. School children practiced hiding under their desks in case of a nuclear attack, as if that were going to help. Office buildings were designated as Civil Defense fallout shelters and stocked with supplies. Radio and television stations regularly interrupted their programming to test the nationwide alert system.
On the forefront of the Cold War with the Soviet Union was Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, opened in 1942, and designated as a Strategic Air Command (SAC) base in 1946.
In was in that environment that a group of Fort Worth civic leaders, headed by Frank Kent and including Fred Korth, Ed Parker, Earle Parker and Hank Green, decided in 1958 to establish an organization to provide community support for Carswell and the U.S. Air Force. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Curtis LeMay came to Fort Worth to deliver the charter. And the Fort Worth AirPower Council came into existence.
The base became the Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base Carswell Field in 1994. But the mission of the AirPower Council remains unchanged. The idea is to build morale among those serving in all branches and raise awareness of the base and its mission. Members travel to Washington to advocate - they are careful to not use the word "lobby" - on behalf of the base.
"We'll go out there and help them with their Christmas food baskets, we'll help them with homecomings when the troops are coming back, we'll help with deployments," said Sid Eppes, the chairman of the group. "We'll be out there to send the boys and girls off."
But the efforts are not confined to the base. The outreach is to the local VA Clinic as well and to other organizations and locations, including Fort Hood. "We have a contingency that supports the Snowball Express, which is the organization for children who have lost a parent since 9-11 in the war on terror. They come into the Fort Worth area; there are about 2,000 of them each year," Eppes said.
Membership is limited and by invitation only, and the dues are just $125 a year.
The first Sky Ball at Fort Worth's Meacham International Airport raised $30,000. "Last year (2013) we raised $1.2 million," said Roman Palomares, chairman of the foundation. The foundation expected to raise about $1.7 million this year, not including in-kind donations.
The reason for the huge increase is a name change. "About four years ago, we decided to take the Fort Worth off the foundation and go national. It was too regionalized to Fort Worth," Palomares said. That brought in donations from all over the country. "In 2013, we provided a little over $500,000 to a number of organizations," he said.
The Sky Ball has evolved into a multi-day affair that includes a job fair, a night of entertainment for service members and, of course, the black-tie ball itself. American Airlines is the major supporter, both with volunteers and with money, and Jim Palmersheim of American is the chair of the ball. The ball is held in Hanger 5, American's active maintenance hanger at DFW International Airport. The airline turns it over to the ball for a week.
