10/02/12 Over 60 people gathered at Plymouth Sky Sports at Plymouth Municipal Airport on Sunday September 30th to watch Jan’s Jump!  For Operation Quiet Comfort Jan Houin agreed to be pushed out of a perfectly good airplane at 12,000 feet!  Houin’s confidence came from knowing it was a tandem jump with experienced skydiver, Troy Church.

Jan is a board member for Operation Quiet Comfort which is an organization of volunteers across the country whose mission is to honor and comfort U.S. Armed Forces men and women who have been injured while serving in harm’s way and the medical staff that care for them. They do this by sending care packages to medical units overseas.

OQC was founded in July 2004 in Michigan but since 2010 the care packages have all been packed and shipped from the home of Ken and Jan Houin in Plymouth, IN with the help of many volunteers. No one in OQC is paid and it depends entirely on donations to do this work.

The skydiving experience was amazing but equally amazing was the support for this event. People from across the country donated to send Jan higher.  Jan began to wonder if people wanted to support the troops or just see how far she would fall! Many people told her they wanted to watch so the Houin’s along with Jan’s sister, Peggy Reynolds; who also is a board member for OQC, put together a tail gate party at the airport for the big event.

  They had no idea how many would come so they told the team at Plymouth Sky Sports that there could be anywhere from 6 to 20 people.  Jan said she was humbled and overwhelmed when over sixty came, some from as far as Edwardsburg, MI.

Just before they exited the plane the videographer asked if Jan wanted to give a message to anyone watching. Jan answered, “Just remember, there are a lot of military guys and gals doing things that they’re not comfortable with. If they can do it, I can do it!”

OQC continues to send packages every month and their next big project will be filling and shipping 750 holiday stockings to let those who are far from family and friends this holiday season know that they are not forgotten and a grateful nation truly cares.

For more information go to www.operationquietcomfort.com or contact Jan at janh@operationquietcomfort.com or call 574-936-1424