Bob Blouin: This pilot runs down-to-earth charity for kids

Bob Blouin has had a license to fly for five decades. He also has had a calling to help people in the air and on the ground.

Blouin (pronounced BLU-in) is president of Clothing Our Kids, a nonprofit that provides brand-new clothes for children in need in Sussex County. 

The process starts when teachers, counselors, nurses or principals identify students in need. They go to the Clothing Our Kids website to fill out a form to request clothing. Sneakers, winter coats and blue jeans are the most requested items.

Volunteers from Clothing Our Kids pack up the items at their donation center in Millsboro, making sure they get the right sizes, and deliver them to the school.

“We don’t ask any questions, because the people who order the clothes know who these kids are,” Blouin said.

The organization also serves local shelters and was among the first to take boxes of clothes to families displaced by an apartment fire in Laurel two years ago.

Clothing Our Kids was founded by Mary Rio 11 years ago. Her husband John was a vice principal and saw there was a need to help students.

“He came home and told his wife he had a little girl who wore the same clothes five days in a row,” Blouin said. “Mary said, ‘I can’t have that happen’. So, she got her neighbors together, they got used clothes, and went out and bought others. The next thing you know, they were collecting clothes, washing clothes out of her garage.”

“One person started this, and we now have over 100 volunteers,” he said.

Blouin said when the organization started, they were throwing away half of the used clothes they took in. So, they made the decision to only buy new clothes.

He said they bought $150,000 worth of clothing in 2023 and expect to spend a lot more this year, because demand is increasing.

The organization gets money from grants, an annual golf tournament fundraiser and grassroots donations.

The Baker family from Long Neck recently stopped by the donation center to present Blouin with a check for $1,615. The family raised the money in memory of their oldest son, who died in a car accident.

“We just put it out to friends and family, and said we’re doing this for my son,” said Grey Baker. 

Those smaller donations all add up to a big part of Clothing Our Kids’ budget.

The Rios still live locally but are retired and no longer involved in the day-to-day operation of Clothing Our Kids.

So at age 75, Blouin is back in the left seat again (pilot talk for being the one at the controls).

Blouin grew up in Chicago. He earned a Purple Heart while serving in the U.S. Army in Vietnam. He was not a military pilot, but that’s where he caught the aviation bug.

“I sat in the back of helicopters, looking at the guys up front, going, ‘Hey, they have a clean uniform on and don’t spend overnights in the field. That might be a good job for me,” he said.

After his military service, Blouin went to college in Iowa and worked nights to pay for flying lessons.

His first job as a professional pilot was flying sightseeing tours in Hawaii for $36 a day.

Blouin then got a job as a pilot and executive for Imperial Airlines in California. He also flew for aircraft manufacturers Shorts, Bombardier and Hawker-Beechcraft.

“I have a couple of records in the [Hawker] 4000. I flew from Bahrain to London-Luton in seven-and-a-half hours, which is a record for that category of aircraft,” he said.

Blouin also held an executive position with the National Business Aircraft Association in Washington, D.C., where his wife Kathleen served as a vice president.

The Blouins had been coming to Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore for years before they decided to land here for retirement in 2014.

They jumped right into helping people, volunteering with the Dover Air Force Base USO and the Clothing Our Kids annual golf tournament.

Blouin finally bought his own airplane in 2017, a Beechcraft Bonanza, that he kept at Delaware Coastal Airport in Georgetown.

“Never in my 50-year career did I own my own airplane; I always flew somebody else’s airplane. it was great for going to Cleveland and Corning, N.Y., to see our kids. We’ve been all over the U.S. with it,” Blouin said. 

Blouin volunteered with an organization called Angel Flight East, a group of private pilots who donate their time and aircraft to fly people to medical treatments.

He got emotional when talking about how he used his small plane to get patients to places like Johns Hopkins and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“I got more out of flying them than they got out of me,” Blouin said, holding back tears.

Blouin sold his Bonanza last year. He and his wife are now firmly planted on the ground, running Clothing Our Kids.

“The charity just sang to us. No paid staff. We pay rent and insurance, but other than that, we don’t spend money except on clothing for kids,” Blouin said.

He told a personal story that brings it all home.

“I was a mentor at East Millsboro Elementary. I went at lunchtime to see 8-year-old James. He was looking a little forlorn. He couldn’t go out to the playground because he didn’t have a winter coat. Their protocol is you’ve got to have a winter coat. I pulled his teacher aside. She knew about Clothing Our Kids, went online and ordered a coat. The next week, James had a down jacket and a big smile on his face. That’s what we do time and time again,” Blouin said.