Before NBAA’s 2011 Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference (SDC), held in Savannah, Georgia, several members of the S&D advisory council got together and decided that the show should leave a positive mark on the host city. The S&D Pay-It-Forward initiative—one of the event's hallmarks—was born. What celebrated its 10th anniversary at this year’s show in Charlotte, North Carolina, started off as a clothing drive. Attendees are asked to scour their closets for gently-worn business attire, which is donated to a local charity. This year it was Dress For Success Charlotte, and Suit Up Charlotte. The advisory council has partnered with the local chapters of Dress for Success for the past eight years in each of the cities SDC has visited. The first year, attendees donated a total of 74 garments.

That clothing is given to destitute people in the community “who are looking for jobs, just looking for a little bit of a hand up, so that they have the right clothing when they go out to interview for a new job, and are appropriately dressed,” said Debbi Laux manager of candidate services with industry recruitment specialist Aviation Personnel International. She estimates that Pay-It-Forward has gathered more than 18,000 items of clothing over the past decade. The event has gained steam, expanding from not only donations from individuals but also companywide drives from exhibitors who deliver crates of clothes at the show, as well as outright donations of large quantities of brand-new garments.

At each SDC, Laux, who has shepherded the effort since its inception, typically gives a few comments at the start of the final day’s grand prize luncheon, thanking those who contributed, the corporate sponsors, and informing them where their donations will go. A few years ago, after her comments, she was approached by a woman who thanked her for all that she did to organize the show’s clothing drive. When Laux tried to defer the gratitude to the many people involved, the woman explained that, as a homeless person, she had personally benefited from the Pay-It-Forward initiative in her city. Through the local charity organization SDC had partnered with, she received a set of proper business attire, a professional review of her resume, and interview coaching, all of which she used to land a scheduling job with a corporate flight department. Years later she was at the show as an attendee. “I’m proud about where I’ve come,” she told Laux, “because I might not have been alive today if it wasn’t for someone giving that piece of clothing.”

The Pay-It-Forward concept has expanded as well, with some years featuring initiatives such as packing backpacks with food to distribute through schools to at-risk children, assembling boxes of cleaning products for single mothers, and even a charity run. The latest addition has been organizing educational days ahead of the show’s opening, introducing high school students to the prospect of a career in business aviation through visits to corporate flight departments or FBOs at local airports.

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