NASA Hosts Cops Care Fantasy Flight Event For Sick Children

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – NASA’s Hangar N211 will once again be transformed into the ‘North Pole’ for the annual Cops Care Cancer Foundation Christmas Fantasy Flight for children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

The festive holiday event will be held at 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009 in the San Jose Police Department Air Support Unit hangar, N211, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. Families will begin boarding busses at approximately 11 a.m. PST at the Yahoo! Inc., campus for transport to NASA Ames.

Children from San Francisco Bay Area hospitals, including Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center and Children’s Hospital and Research Center, Oakland, will be treated to a day of fun with their families, complete with a variety of activities, food, drinks and music.

WHAT: Cops Care Cancer Foundation’s annual Christmas Fantasy Flight for children with cancer

WHEN: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009

WHERE: San Jose Police Department Air Support Unit Hangar, N211, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

For media clearance to attend the event, contact Jonas Dino at 650-207-3280 or 650-604-5612 by noon Friday, Dec. 11, 2009. Your name and organization will be added to a list at the NASA Ames main gate. News media representatives are requested to arrive by 11:30 a.m. PST to be staged for the arrival of the children and their families to Hangar N211.

Highlighting the event will be the arrival of Santa in a police helicopter, bearing gifts for the children and their siblings. Other activities include a ‘bubble zone’, jumper houses, face painting, carnival games and special access to police and fire department vehicles.

Police officers and firefighters from the San Jose Police Department and Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety will greet the children at Yahoo! Inc.’s Sunnyvale campus before boarding buses to NASA Ames. Upon arrival, special guests, including California Assemblymember Alberto Torrico, San Francisco 49er Head Coach Mike Singletary, former National Football League player and Bay Area native Sean Dawkins, San Jose Shark mascot SJ Sharkie, local police officers, cartoon characters and more than 100 foundation volunteers will welcome the children.

In addition, Yahoo! Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., will provide check-in gifts for the children and the Cops Care Cancer Foundation will give each family gift cards to help purchase Christmas dinner and presents.

For more information, contact San Jose Police Officer Brian Simuro, president of the Cops Care Cancer Foundation, at 408-839-3349 or visit the foundation Web site: http://www.arrestcancer.org/

For directions to NASA Ames Research Center, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/directions.html