Team Mildenhall raises $3,100 for September's Air Force Ball

  • Published
  • By Breane Lyga
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Twenty Team Mildenhall Airmen scrubbed a KC-135 Stratotanker July 14 at Hangar 711 to raise money for the upcoming Air Force Ball in September. 

Approximately $3,100 was raised as a result, and organizers will use the proceeds to defray the cost of tickets. 

Anyone on base was eligible for the fundraiser, and each vote cost $1. The top 20 on the list of donations could opt to "buy-out" of the aircraft wash by matching the votes dollar for dollar. Dozens of supporters gathered at the hangar to cheer and in some cases heckle the lucky few. 

The washers were given protective suits, buckets, hoses and brushes and then put to work cleaning the tanker. Master Sgt. Ronda White, 100th Security Forces Squadron, was not expecting to wash a jet, nor aware that she had the most votes of any candidate until the results were announced. 

"It was a surprise," she said, "because I hadn't really been following it. One day a fellow NCO told me I might want to take a look at the votes, and I saw I had 365. I have a pretty good sense of humor, and I thought it was funny. It's money well spent. I guess I'm doing my job well if I'm so well loved." 

Air Force Ball Committee organizers Jan Saville and Lt. Col. Bruce McNaughton put the event together with the assistance of volunteers and Mildenhall professional organizations. 

"We raised 50 percent more than we hoped for," Lt. Col. McNaughton said. "It was for a good cause, and the wash team chief said we actually saved his team some work.
"Thanks to everyone involved whose efforts made this event a success and to the 'winners' for being such good sports about the whole thing."