From Pilot Gary Martin:

While at Oshkosh last week, I received an email alert from Pilots ‘n Paws that Lacy the shelter cat needed a ride from Springfield, IL to her new home in Austin, TX.

Lacy peeking out at her new ride!

The new owner is handicapped and had no way to drive to Springfield to pick up Lacy, and because Lacy had been in the shelter since March, her days were numbered.

Pilot Gary with "Lacy" and her rescue volunteer

Springfield is in a (more or less) straight line between Wisconsin and Texas, so I volunteered to pick up Lacy and fly her to Austin.  It took a little extra fuel and added a little time to a long day of flying, but it was well worth the effort. Lacy was a perfect passenger and volunteers on both ends of the trip made it all simple. The shelter in Springfield put together a little video about Lacy’s adventure.

 The attached photos were shot by the “receiving” volunteers in Austin, who afterwards delivered Lacy to her new owner.  I see this as just another example of the value and utility of general aviation (“little airplanes”).  Try pulling off something like this using the “big airplanes”.

 Gary Martin, Ph.D.

National Director of Strategic Philanthropy
AOPA Foundation

From Lucy’s Rescue Volunteers, update and story:

Such a beautiful girl!

Lacy is a DSH Black/White spayed female who has been at Sangamon County Animal Control in Springfield IL since the beginning of March. The family in Austin TX who adopted the cat found her via Facebook/Petfinders. Linda Chandler-LaFever grew up with me in Auburn and is a friend of mine on FB. She saw pics of cats from Animal Control that I was posting and really fell in love with a brown tabby. That cat got adopted before Linda’s paperwork arrived via the Postal Service. We started going through other long term cats at Sangamon County Animal Control and they picked out Lacy. They wanted to save one who had been there a long time.
 
Linda can’t make long distance drives due to a handicap so I was trying to find a way to get Lacy to TX. I remembered about a program called Pilots N Paws so I looked it up on the internet and did some research into the group. It sounded exactly like what we needed so I enrolled and put in a request to get Lacy from Springfield to Austin.  A lady who lives around Austin posted that she would even be willing to drive to other airports within a certain distance to help transport the cat to the new owners. I had a gentleman respond who was up at the Osh Kosh WI airshow this week and was willing to stop at Springfield Friday on his way back home to TX and pick up Lacy. He is flying about an hour or so past his home to drop Lacy off with the runner who will then deliver Lacy to Linda and her family on Friday evening. Thank you so much to our pilot Gary Martin and our TX ground support..Doralee Thrasher. Without the two of you Lacy wouldn’t not be in her wonderful new home. You two are both angels on earth!

I heard back from Lacy’s new family. She is doing wonderful. She was put in the son’s room while getting acclimated to the family and they hit it off PURRfectly. She sleeps in bed with him, lays with him and watches him play video games, and follows him around the house. Everyone in the family just loves her to death and are very appreciative of Pilots and Paws getting their new family member to them.
Cindy Willoughby

   Here is a link to a newspaper write up on Lacy and her flight.  
https://pets.sj-r.com/2011/7/30/high-flying-cat