SBA hosts Alpha Resource Center Plane Pull Fundraiser

Source: City of Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) is proud to partner with Alaska Airlines and Signature Flight Support to host local non-profit Alpha Resource Center’s Inaugural Plane Pull fundraiser on Saturday, February 26, 2022.

On the tarmac at Santa Barbara Airport, competing teams will attempt to pull a 100,000-pound Alaska Airlines Embraer 175 aircraft with a rope for a distance of 15-feet in the fastest time possible.  Seattle-based Alaska Airlines – serving Santa Barbara with air daily service for more than three decades – is the presenting sponsor of the event.  The event also is hosted in cooperation with Signature Flight Support at SBA.

SBA has been working closely with all three partners – Alpha Resource Center, Alaska Airlines and Signature Flight Support – to organize this one-of-a-kind community event as a symbol of the amazing outcomes that can be achieved when the whole community pulls together in the same direction.  Fundraising teams can include family members, friends, co-workers or even gym buddies. There will be two divisions: one for public safety personnel such as EMTs, Police officers and Firefighters, and the other for “regular” community participants. The event is designed for participants of all abilities and organized in compliance with COVID protocols.

The competing teams will raise money for Alpha Resource Center by soliciting sponsors to support their team’s participation.  Each member of a 10-man team will raise at least $100 to participate.  All participants will receive an event t-shirt and a chance to win championship prizes as a reward for the fastest plane pull, in addition to significant bragging rights.

“The ability of the individuals we support at Alpha Resource Center is unlimited. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate this fact than our Alpha participants and families joining with teams from throughout the Santa Barbara community to do something we all might think is impossible at first — pulling an actual Alaska Airlines plane! Each of us is going to walk away with a new perspective on what’s possible,” said Josh Weitzman, Executive Director of Alpha Resource Center. “We thank Alaska Airlines, Santa Barbara Airport and Signature Flight Services for helping us get our inaugural Plane Pull off the ground.”

Registration is now open, learn more and register here: https://alphasb.org/plane-pull

To participate as a sponsor or volunteer, or for any event questions, please contact Jeff Henson at Alpha Resource Center, (805) 683-2145 or jhenson@alphasb.org