Alaska Region employee gives back through Last Frontier Honor Flight Network

May 23, 2022

Group photo: Veterans on honor flight to Washington, DC. — *Veterans and their guardians on the April 2022 Last Frontier Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy Christa Foli.*

ALASKA—Alaska Region employee Christa Foli cannot talk about her experience with the Last Frontier Honor Flight Network without bursting into tears. “I’m a vet. My husband is a vet. It’s just a beautiful way of giving back to veterans,” she said about her work with the Honor Flight program—a national network of independent hubs working together to honor our nation’s veterans with an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C.

Twice a year, Honor Flight brings veterans from their state to D.C. Food and hotel funding comes from donations, and airlines donate plane tickets in between D.C. and the veteran’s hometown—a slightly more logistically involved process when it comes to Alaska, where many veterans live in small, isolated communities and travel in and out is complicated, to say the least.

“When we get to D.C., we try to visit every site that affects a member of our group,” said Foli, who served as a guardian—as a chaperone who accompanies a veteran on the trip. They are usually met by their state’s members of Congress. On Foli’s trip, Alaska Senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski both toured with the group.

Christa Foli, Vietnam veteran Terry Menard and Rhonda Thomas at MLK memorial. — Left to Right: Christa Foli, R-10 Conflict Management and Prevention manager; Ms. Terry Menard, Navy veteran of Vietnam; and Rhonda Thomas, branch chief, Conflict Management and Prevention, who came out to meet the group at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.

After a busy week, the veterans return via Anchorage, where they receive quite the welcome. “Saturday is probably the most powerful day,” Foli said, her voice breaking with emotion. “We’re met with an honor guard and bagpipes. The most incredible part is the change in the veterans, from not feeling valued to sitting up as straight as they possible can…it’s just amazing to see.”

Veterans can be nominated by family members or themselves. There is a waitlist, so preference is given first to World War II veterans. Guardians pay their own way and are often family members of the veteran, but they can also be friends, fellow veterans of more recent wars or even kind-hearted strangers who want to help and are willing to go through a screening process.

“It is one of the most physically and emotionally exhausting events that I participate in,” Foli remarked, “But it’s absolutely the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. It’s my way of giving back.”