Within hours of hearing about the December 10 tornadoes that devastated central Kentucky, 16-year-old Mary Schalk was bound for Mayfield, Ky., flying solo in a plane filled with donations.
“We called the Mayfield airport to tell them our plan, and they used snowplows to clear debris from the runways so we could land,” says Schalk.
On December 12, the junior Barren County FFA member from Glasgow, Ky., was one of several pilots who made the one-hour flight. Her plane, a 1952 Beechcraft Bonanza, was filled with bottled water, nonperishable foods, clothes and other donated items.
“Those communities lost everything,” Schalk recalls. “We knew we needed to do something.”
When Schalk told her FFA advisors and officer team she was making a second flight to deliver supplies to the tornado-ravaged communities, they stepped up to help. The chapter sent out a list of needed supplies and started collecting donations. Two days after her initial flight, Schalk landed in Madisonville, Ky., delivering much-needed supplies.
“People were so thankful for everything we brought,” she says.
Barren County FFA advisor and agriculture education teacher Andy Moore was in awe of the leadership and creativity Schalk displayed amid tragedy, especially given the emotional toll of the experience.
“We were still thinking about what to do and Mary had a mission planned,” he says. “She told me it was the worst thing she had ever seen. After she saw the destruction, she had to hold herself together to fly that airplane back home — then she had to regroup to fly out again.”
On a third flight, Schalk delivered presents collected during a toy drive to ensure that the families who lost everything during the tornado still had presents on Christmas morning.
“She’s seen firsthand what we’re watching on the news,” Moore says. “Mary is the kind of leader you hope to work with during your career.”
Schalk credits her father, who is also a pilot, for encouraging her to “lead by example” and FFA for promoting a “living to serve” motto, instilling in her a passion for helping others.
“There are always things you can do to help those in need,” she says. “We’ll keep going out there until someone turns us away.”
