Patriots owner Robert Kraft provided the team’s private jet to shuttle survivors of the Florida school shooting to DC so they can participate in the ‘March for Our Lives’ event.
On Thursday, the families and students from Parkland, were transported to Washington DC ahead of the march against gun violence taking place in the nation’s capital this Saturday.
Some of the students being transported thanks to the New England Patriots, were injured in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 staffers and students dead.
Patriots spokesman Stacey James told the Boston Globe that Kraft decided to donate his Boeing wide-body 767, called ‘AirKraft,’ when Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly, reached out to him and asked for the favor.
‘Thank you @Patriots for donating your plane to fly @ShineMsd to Washington DC We appreciate your support!’ Student Kali Clougherty shared to Twitter
‘Heading to D.C. & I’m so thankful to be here with so many amazing people. Thank you @Patriots for donating your plane to help us get to D.C.! And always so happy to have @isabelabarry by my side through everything I do’ student Sawyer Rayne shared
Patriots owner Robert Kraft donated the Patriots’ private jet to get the survivors of the Florida, Parkland school shooting to the protest against gun violence in DC
‘Not only did their friends and teachers get shot and killed, other friends shot and injured . . . most of them they had bullets flying over their heads,’ said Kelly told the Washington Post.
‘This is not fair that they have to deal with something like this at their age. They wanted to go to Washington and be heard, and so I felt it was our obligation to help them.’
Kelly and his wife founded ‘Giffords,’ a gun violence prevention organization after Giffords survived being shot in the head during a 2011 event in Arizona.
The plane flew out of Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, and the Pats spokesperson said they will be transported back to Florida after the march.
‘No report other than they took off and everyone was happy,’ James said, after adding he didn’t know if any players were on the flight, and Kraft was not travelling with the group.
The Patriots owner has been a friend and supporter of President Trump, who faced backlash over his slow response to the tragedy, although the president has since said he supports more gun control laws.
Some of the students shared photos from their time on the plane as well as boarding the flight as they head to the march where thousands are expected to protest gun violence.
Kraft shakes President Trump’s hands during the team’s visit to the White House in 2017
Luxury ride: The 767 Boeing has first-class configurations with some of the seats fully reclining
The plane was unvelilved in October, and its one of two jets the Patriots purchased.
The airplane designs follow the team’s traditional red, white and blue colorway and features its Minuteman profile logo and team name.
The design also includes five red stars on the body and five Lombardi trophies on the tail fin, highlighting the team’s five lifetime Super Bowl wins.
When the Patriots purchased the two 767 Boeings, they had the existing seats removed.
They replaced them with first-class configurations only. Some of those new seats are even the lie-flat design, the type typically sported on planes doing long-haul international flights.