Dropping Joy, Lifting Communities

Our Mission

1. Mission

Empower the Next Generation of Candy Bombers

2. Vision

Develop community leaders through STEM and aviation who demonstrate qualities of kindness, gratitude, and service before self

3. Strategy

Foster opportunities for the community to discover how we too can share what we have to offer as the Candy Bomber shared his two sticks of gum to encourage mutual respect, unity, and service despite our differences. Each person is valued and can make a difference.

4. Inspiration

“Children hold the future of the whole world in their hands; our children and everyone’s
children.”

“The desire for freedom is inborn in every human soul.”

We strive to preserve the legacy of the Berlin Candy Bomber. Gail Halvorsen was a humanitarian, a rocket scientist, a military leader, an educator, and one of America’s notable informal Ambassadors.

When the challenging times of the early Cold War came, Gail began a humanitarian effort that healed the animosity that was felt between former enemies. Sometimes it is said that a person rises to the occasion. Gail’s life shows that instead we are raised for the occasion- there are many steps in life that prepare us to serve. Gail lived his life based on a code of attitude, gratitude, service before self, and excellence. This code was the product of the experiences that shaped him while he was a youth growing up in rural Utah. The Candy Bomber Foundation provides experiences for youth that will set them on the Candy Bomber flight path.

Developing Ambassadors of Hope

Mission Briefing: Updates

Art Against Walls, October 2023

When Colonel Gail Halvorsen spoke to the children attending the Gail S. Halvorsen Schule—an elementary school named in his honor in Berlin, Germany—he always encouraged them to have grateful,...

Happy Birthday Gail!

Today is Colonel Halvorsen's 103rd birthday. We love and miss him and remember him with joy and tenderness.

Inspiring Future Humanitarian Leaders

History through photos