Honor Flight Syracuse launches annual bottle and can drive for veterans trips

Honor Flight Syracuse is asking Central New Yorkers to turn empty cans and bottles into travel money for veterans, with its spring drive set for April 25 and April 26 at Destiny USA. Donations will be accepted in the big parking lot at Hiawatha Boulevard and Solar Street from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, giving residents a simple way to support the next flights to Washington, D.C.

The math is straightforward. Each returnable container brings in 6 cents for Honor Flight Syracuse, a nickel deposit plus a penny from TOMRA. That means 1,000 cans or bottles generate $60, and larger drop-offs quickly add up for a nonprofit that depends on community support to keep sending veterans to the nation’s capital. The drive is one of the organization’s biggest annual fundraisers, and the money goes directly into the trips that take local veterans to the memorials built in their honor.

Honor Flight Syracuse says it flies Central New York heroes and military veterans to Washington, D.C., where they visit and reflect at their memorials. The Syracuse hub says it aims to fly at least two missions each year and serves veterans from ten counties across Central New York, Northern New York and the Mohawk Valley. It is one of 131 regional hubs in the national Honor Flight Network, which began in 2005 and has flown more than 20,000 veterans to Washington. The national network now says it has brought more than 300,000 veterans to their memorials, and more than 90% of funds raised go directly to the mission.

Locally, the program has been building momentum for years. Honor Flight Syracuse’s first mission took place on Oct. 6, 2012, and the hub says it has flown more than 1,600 veterans. Previous missions have carried large groups to visit the Vietnam Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, the Pentagon and the 9/11 Memorial, while a later flight brought 66 veterans to the Korean and Vietnam Memorials, the World War II Memorial and the Air Force and Marine Corps Memorial.

For Onondaga County families, the bottle and can drive offers a low-barrier way to help pay for a day of recognition that many veterans spent decades waiting to receive. At Destiny USA, recycled containers become fuel for a mission rooted in gratitude, memory and public honor.