Aerial Perspective Supports the Work of United Parents Against Lead (UPAL)
Chesterfield / Petersburg, Virginia – Take Flight with UPAL and SouthWings to kick off National
Lead Poisoning Prevention Week 2024! October 20-26.
On Saturday, October 19 UPAL members and supporters took to the skies to get an aerial view of
Environmental Issues such as lead contamination and toxic landfills. SouthWings Volunteer
Pilot, Craig Cox, flew multiple passengers over several sites from Chesterfield through
Richmond and Petersburg.
Passengers saw the site of an old lead smelting plant that caused the poisoning of hundreds of
Richmond children; the house that poisoned Zaki Abdullah Shabazz whose poisoning sparked a
movement and the long standing advocacy organization “United Parents Against Lead (UPAL)”
that adamantly declares “A Child is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” From there the passengers flew
over additional sites including the tri-cities landfill situated just feet away from a Petersburg
elementary school. The flight culminated with the sighting of Virginia’s first solar powered
Community Resiliency Hub which was established by UPAL and is addressing the climate crisis
along with other Environmental and Social Justice issues.
Craig Cox joined SouthWings in 2024. He is a software engineer working at The Johns Hopkins
University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD. He flies his Piper Arrow III out of Tipton
Airport near Fort Meade, MD. Follow this link to find his personal bio.
SouthWings is a non-profit conservation organization that provides a network of volunteer pilots
to advocate for the restoration and protection of ecosystems across the Southeast through flight.
Based in Asheville, North Carolina, SouthWings operates in 16 states in collaboration with
hundreds of partner organizations to enhance the work of the conservation and environmental
justice movements through aerial perspectives.
SouthWings partners with conservation groups, community groups, media, and decision-makers
to provide a unique perspective to better understand and solve pressing environmental issues in
the Southeast. All flights are free of charge to the flight partner thanks to the generosity of the
volunteer pilots, granting foundations, and individual donors.
United Parents Against Lead (UPAL) is a national networking organization of and for parents of
lead-poisoned children working to end the threat of lead poisoning and other environmental
hazards through Education, Awareness, Advocacy, Intervention and Resource Referral. UPAL is
committed first and foremost to ensuring the fundamental rights of all children to live in a safe
and healthy environment.
“There are no safe levels of exposure to lead, and UPAL’s launch of National Lead Poisoning
Prevention Week begins a week of community engagement activities to educate, inform and
promote lead poisoning prevention. We are grateful to have SouthWings as a partner and to be
able to provide an aerial perspective” said Queen Shabazz, Founder of UPAL.
To learn more about United Parents Against Lead, visit https://www.upalnational.org/. To learn
more about SouthWings, visit www.southwings.org.
Flight photos can be viewed on UPAL’s website Photos & Videos — UPAL (upalnational.org)