On Thursday, Randle “Newk” Coleman Jr. got a chance to let his dreams take flight.
Randle, 11, an incoming sixth-grader at Carver Elementary School in Indianola who is suffering with sickle cell anemia, was the recipient of a wish from Make-A-Wish’s Mississippi Chapter.
Randle’s wish was to go to Disney World with his family, and GE Capital Aviation Services, through its corporate giving arm, donated $5,000 to help that wish come true.
Also, Cyndi Long, site operations manager for Greenwood- Leflore Airport’s GECAS facility, partnered with local aircraft owners Bob Provine and Mike and Craig Rozier, who provided helicopter and plane rides to Randle’s family.
The helicopter was piloted by Mac McNeer, and the plane was piloted by Mark Bowie.
Rides were also provided by deputies from the Sunflower County Sheriff’s Office and by the Greenwood Fire Department.
Randle’s mother, Evelyn Logan, said she and her son had never taken an airplane ride before.
“We’ve seen crop dusters; that’s about it,” she said, standing underneath the wing of a Boeing 747 that GECAS is dismantling.
Randle spent a good bit of his time riding with family. He took his first helicopter ride with his brother, Silvester Lee, 18. On his last flight, he took his mom.
He also took at least two plane rides.
Asked which one of the rides he liked the best, Randle replied, “All of them, really.”
Jane Walsh, development manager for the Make-A-Wish Mississippi Chapter, said the organization is bringing wishes to 104 children with serious illnesses this year after doing so for 110 in 2013.
“We have been told there are many more who do not know about it,” she said.
The chapter, which has been operational since 1985, is making a renewed effort to get more physicians to refer potential candidates, Walsh said.
Annette Fields, a volunteer with Make-A-Wish, said Randle is the second Delta child to have a wish granted this year. Siani Black, an 8-year-old from Belzoni, won a shopping spree earlier this month.
A third Delta youngster, 16-year-old Quapoyia Warren of Moorhead, will be going to the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, in August for her wish.
Walsh said the level of support shown by GECAS and its employees is exceptional.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
