Legacy of Wings Project and Complex

 

Hello Folks, Blake Walston here, 67  years  young.  Just an old man who is happily married for   46+ years and who builds, teaches, and flies model airplanes and enjoys internet conversation with good folks world wide. 

 

I have a dream to share that I want to make happen.  I am too old to solicit funds and I have no gimmicks or sales pitches, just an old man’s dream of a legacy I want to leave behind.  I ask only for prayers if you are a praying person and good wishes if you are not.

And I am available most of the time for friends and folks that I might help in some way.

But here is the dream I want to share. 

Legacy of Wings Project

The purpose of Legacy of wings is to teach kids and adults how to fly, not necessarily in the air, but with their hearts and their lives.  Also by teaching them how to see a creator’s hand in everything and by helping them to find the career that they love.

We will do this by:

              1. Providing a learning environment that is fun.  There will be no formal classroom training, however it will be made available if wanted by student.

                 2. Teaching each student:  work ethics, honesty and integrity by integrating those values into building models, projects in the trades, arts and sciences. 

                3. Teaching   the pay-it-forward attitude and to make it obligatory to carry on the tradition and legacy by being alert to those who could benefit from Legacy of Wings and to sponsor them at the center.

                4. And seeking out those who can be taught for which formal training is either not available or not suited to the student. 

 
    Legacy of Wings is a complex, including: housing for the staff, an active aircraft runway, a lake, a dispensary, and a chapel, but most of all it contains 4 very large hangars full of top value educational toys.  (Not found at Toys R Us) , Toys such as these:

 http://legoengineering.com/curriculum-submenuteachingresources-142.html

http://machinedesign.com/article/toys-that-teach-1213

 

http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3151604

 

 

Educational toys for every career field that we can afford, including music and art..  .  These teaching toys will be placed in the hangers and the students turned loose to find those that interest them. These youngsters and adults will come by invitation only.  The purpose of the toys is to see that which appeals to the students.  For if they are interested and enjoy playing in a particular career field, then that will be where we will guide them

      This is not a public venture. Nor will public or government monies fund any part of it.   It will be open to all to visit but participants will be selected by a governing board based on the need and attitude of the students, This will be a no cost to the student other then the work requirement stated below.

     Legacy of wings will not teach the fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic, nor other classes that are taught in public school.  This environment will allow the kids to pick the areas in which they have an interest.  Thereby enabling them to build a project or perform projects in every form of trade on the planet for which we can find a willing and dedicated teacher. 
The staff at this time is mostly family because they believe in the project; several other possible staff members have been spotted for which evaluations are still pending.

I have located a site for the complex on which to build.  All in all it will take about 20 million to build it to a minimum and or  50 million to built it and sustain it.   So you know ole Blake has to win the lottery to build it.
But that is what dreams are for. 

Years ago when we were in Japan, my wife, son, and I went to a department store and in the toy section they had an area fenced off in which there was every kind of toy that the store sold and the kids could play with any of them. I watched for over an hour as the kids would pick up one toy or the other and finally settle on one to play with. That was the toy the parents bought for their kids.

Over the last 35 years I have worked at trying this out with kids I have taught to build model planes.  Allowing them to do the picking of their hearts desire and then enabling them to do it by providing tools, materials and instruction where needed.  I know that it works and although I know there are lots of things I need to learn, I am  still working towards building this dream.  

          The kids will have a wee amount of work to do...just enough so that they know they have earned what they get.  Nothing that would over burden them or place them in harms way, things like cutting the grass, painting or yard work, and maybe as they progress something in the line of their interest.  For instance:  a music kid might have to practice for several hours to do a public benefit for disabled children, or a flight student might have to clean the airplane before or after he flies in it. What ever it takes so that they know nothing is free but their imagination and through work they can accomplish their hearts desire or what ever they can imagine.  I hope to direct them away from the mundane into projects that spark an interest and direct them more to the trades and art.  We already have enough chiefs. We need to have better Indians.  Let me know what you think of my dream.  The whole shebang is to help folks to find their life’s work that they love to do by providing them toys and materials, to find their niche in the world rather than having to take a job because they need bodies.  I have learned that folks who love what they do make a better workplace for everyone else.  The complex will be open for applications from anyone, who dares find his or her dream.  The main goal of this center is to help create a world of happy workers, who know how to treat their fellow man with kindness, honesty and integrity.
Most folks want to win the lottery to quit work...I want to win it to go to work...
ole 'Blake is strange that way. I guess I am one of the few who really likes to work and this dream will truly be a work of love. If you care to donate, it will be gratefully accepted, but all I ask for is prayers or well wishes for it to happen. Far too many folks hate their jobs and if this concept succeeds, it will breed other complexes all over the country and maybe the world and help to make a happier world 

 Please remember that no government or public funds will be used to either build or maintain this facility and it will be open for the public to visit by appointment or reservation. .  God grant that we can make it happen. .

Cheers
 ole Blake