Thomas and Patricia Bowser were rescued from their home in New Orleans after cutting a hole in the roof and being rescued by boat when their home was flooded after the levee in New Orleans burst.. The Bowsers made their way to the New Orleans Shelter, then to another shelter, and then to the LSU Special Needs Shelter in Baton Rouge, LA where they were matched up with an Operation Teacup Volunteer Pilot, Tony Bavuso of Kansas City, MO who picked them up at the Baton Rouge Airport.

Bavuso, paid his own expenses for the aircraft for the 1400 mile round trip to Baton Rouge La from his home airport in Lees Summit,MO to Baton Rouge LA and the return flight to Spirit of St Louis Airport to evacuate Thomas and Patricia Bowser to their home in Florissant MO and then return home to Kansas City, MO.

Out of pocket expenses for the flight were approximately $975 for gasoline and aircraft rental.

Operation Teacup is operated out of Charlottesville, VA by Fred Quarles, another pilot volunteer, who organized the group of aircraft owners to fly emergency evacuations, from a membership list of over 3,000 pilots provided by "Baldy Ivy" of Seligman Arizona from his website http://www.pilotsharetheride.com

The aircraft owners volunteered for these missions on short notice, one of which was arranged and in flight lin less than one hour, to re-unite a man in Houston with his family in Baton Rouge.. The group has flown over 40,000 passenger miles

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