A pair of sisters from southwestern Ohio are giving back to America’s veterans in a huge way by collecting thousands of dollars for Honor Flights.
12-year-old Tessa Ziegler and eight-year-old Raya Ziegler raised more than $30,000 to help the Honor Flight Network, which flies veterans to Washington, D.C., where they visit memorials that honor their sacrifice.
“I love seeing the veterans and their smiles after they get home from the Honor Flight,” Tessa said on “America’s Newsroom” Thursday.
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The older sister said the duo were inspired to join the cause after riding along for an Honor Flight.
“My mom inspired me because her friend invited us to an Honor Flight and we just really liked it, and we just wanted to keep going back there.”
Raya told co-anchor Bill Hemmer she was inspired to help at such a young age “because I love our veterans, because they’re so nice.”
Rachel Ziegler, mom of the two fundraising sisters, said it is an “honor” to be helping support America’s veterans through the Honor Flights Network.
“We just love our veterans here. And we know most of the veterans right now on the Honor Flights are Vietnam veterans, Korean. We know that they had no homecoming at all. A lot of them were spit on. People tried to fight them,” she said.
“So to be there at these Honor Flight homecomings and be able to welcome them home and give them the homecoming that they truly deserved – shake their hands, thank them for their service – it just gets really emotional. They’re happy. They’re crying. It’s just such a great program.”
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