Flight attendant reflects on 10 years of Snowball Express

ORD-based Flight Attendant Katrina Fraley remembers responding immediately the first time she saw a call for help to coordinate an event called “Snowball Express.” A joint email from American Airlines and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants said that volunteers were needed to help create a special experience for families of America’s fallen military service members — families that have made the ultimate sacrifice. It touched her on a personal level. Katrina is part of a military family — her dad, brother, all her uncles, grandfather and great-grandfather have served in the military. She immediately replied to volunteer.

That was 10 years ago.

Every year since then, Katrina has served as a charter coordinator for the event. She is one of nearly 1,000 team members who come together each year to help make Snowball Express happen. Katrina helps make sure her charter flight — one of nearly 100 that American flew this last weekend to transport more than 1,600 children and spouses to the Dallas-Fort Worth area — runs smoothly. The list of duties is long: coordinating travel, purchasing decorations for terminal arrivals, making sure the special guests are comfortable, attend all events with the families and help orchestrate nightly activities with the kids at the hotel.

“We dress up for theme nights. The kids get a kick out of it. They call us the ‘adult kids,’” she said. “We are there throughout the five-day event doing anything from helping hold a hand, give a hug or tissue, listening to the stories of the kids and parents about their loss of their hero parent or just making the kids laugh.”

She said the experience of volunteering with Snowball Express has been life-changing. “These kids have become part of my family,” Katrina said. “You see the sacrifices these kids have given and how strong they are. They understand the true meaning of patriotism and the ultimate sacrifice. They are heroes.”

She says she sees the bond the program helps build. Kids form lasting relationships with other kids who have had the same experiences, and they bond with the volunteers who continue to answer the call to volunteer, like Katrina. “I have seen so many grow up and a few have kids of their own,” she said. “There is a bond with the kids and the surviving parent that forms once they tell you their story that can’t be broken. It’s become a lesson that freedom isn’t free, and I need to be there for them. At Snowball Express, we are all family.”