The Wally Byam Foundation
After Airstream organizer Wally Byam died in 1962, an establishment was laid out to keep his heritage alive, advancing generosity and subsidizing compassionate endeavors all over the planet. In his Creed, Airstream pioneer Wally Byam guaranteed "To have some impact in advancing global generosity and understanding among the people groups of the world through one individual to the next contact."
At the point when Wally turned out to be sick in 1962, his significant other Stella and Airstream leaders chose to respect his heritage with the presentation of the Wally Byam Foundation, a non-benefit establishment subsidizing philanthropic tasks and encouraging worldwide generosity.
As indicated by a basic leaflet, the Wally Byam Foundation filled a few needs including: "to assist with accomplishing a more noteworthy information on the day to day existence and societies, and of the set of experiences and the yearnings of people groups in our own country, in every one of the Americas, and all over the planet - and in this way to improve global comprehension and Goodwill". "to additional the idea of movement by trailer as a one of a kind and an undeniably remunerating mechanism for the headway of such schooling and correspondence on a group to-individuals, one individual to the next premise; and with that in mind, to support improvement in the climate in which such travel happens, both at home and abroad… "
A front of an old Wally Byam Foundation pamphlet that is yellow and blue
The Wally Byam Foundation's Board of Trustees comprised of a few outstanding figures including Chairperson Carolyn Bennett Patterson, Senior Assistant Editor at National Geographic, and Helen Byam Schwamborn, International Director of the Wally Byam Caravan Club International. Airstream leaders, RV industry experts, and a delegate from the United States Forest Service likewise served on the board.
The Foundation supported a few projects to accomplish its objectives. Maybe one of the most renowned was the 1965 Caravan trip with President Johnson's little girl Lynda Bird Johnson. That year, President Johnson had started a program called "See America First." As a feature of that program, his little girl Lynda Bird was chosen to visit through the western United States for a long time, visiting locales including the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, and the Grand Tetons.
A group was chosen to go alongside Lynda Bird including her press secretary, Secret Service, a U.S. Armed force correspondence group, Carolyn Bennett Patterson, a National Geographic photographic artist, an Airstream administration specialist, and three drivers. Eventually, her excursion would be highlighted in an issue of National Geographic.
The Wally Byam Foundation sent off a few different drives including a program known as Caravan America. As a feature of Caravan America, in June of 1967, the British Caravan Club sent 20 driving officials and families to the U.S. to take part in a crosscountry journey from Washington D.C. to California. The Wally Byam Caravan Club filled in as escorts and facilitated the British contingent at the Club's yearly International Rally in California that July.
Subsequently, a contingent from a few French Caravan Clubs showed up in California and utilized the Airstreams and GM tow vehicles to follow a similar course back to Washington D.C. Notwithstanding the WBCCI and GM, a few oil organizations, the United States government, and a few state and neighborhood legislatures offered help. Altogether, the Wally Byam Foundation did north of twelve Caravan America trips with more than 67 nations addressed.
All through its presence, the Foundation additionally gave a few Airstreams and tow vehicles to be made accessible to US Foreign Service officials and their families during times of home leave so they could visit the nation and "yet again acquaint" themselves with home.
With the American Bicentennial not too far off, the Wally Byam Foundation sent off its most aggressive program - Open House U.S.A. In 1976 the Foundation held a progression of nine Caravans of unfamiliar writers that crossed the United States. Carolyn Bennett Patterson filled in as a significant contact between National Geographic and the Foundation. For each outing, the magazine gave passages of its distribution relating to huge travel objections for the Caravanners.
The diary for Airstream's Caravan America
Despite the fact that it was eventually disbanded in 1977, the Wally Byam Foundation carried on Wally's tradition of advancing travel and spreading association and worldwide generosity. Pondering her contribution with Airstream and the Wally Byam Foundation in her history, Carolyn Bennett Patterson expressed, "Wally was, to my psyche, an important American unique, a hidden treasure, totally himself, tanned by the sun as befits an outdoorsman, and overflowing with energy and plans. We hit it off broadly."