The New England Patriots customized Boeing 767 passenger jet taxis at T.F. Green Airport, in Warwick, Rhode Island, October 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
New England Patriots team owner Robert Kraft loaned the team’s official plane to fly the families of the 17 victims of the Parkland, Florida school shooting and some of the students inured in the attack to Washington, DC, for the “March for Our Lives.”
Kraft did not fly with the march participants, who left for Washington on Thursday for the Saturday march, the Boston Globe reported. The plane was set to return them to Florida after the march, as well.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy during Super Bowl 51 at NRG Stadium on February 5, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images/AFP)
Patriots spokesman Stacey James told the Globe that Kraft decided to lend the plane to the victims families and the injured students after former Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, asked him to.
Giffords was shot in the head during a public event in her home state in 2011. She survived, but resigned from Congress. She and Kelly founded “Giffords,” a gun violence prevention organization.
Some of the students posted photos of themselves boarding the plane, dubbed “AirKraft” on Thursday, along with thanks to Kraft and the Patriots.
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