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Welcome Wagon
Volunteer “airport ambassadors,” mostly women in their 70s, are the first to welcome you to Palm Beach International Airport. Betty Sussman is one of them.
Vacation is great. Getting there is less so, especially if it involves an airport. Airports today are filled with long lines, short tempers, and fervent wishes to get out of there already. Except for Betty Sussman. She’s one of approximately 90 volunteers who work a four-hour shift each week at the Palm Beach International Airport, greeting visitors in their capacity as “airport ambassadors.” Betty 79, is not your typical South Floridian. She is still employed; four days a week she works as an office manager for an ophthalmologist. For her, being an airport ambassador eases some of the loneliness she’s felt since her husband died five years ago. Plus there are perks: She likes meeting new people, and she likes the meal voucher she earns each shift, redeemable at any of the airport’s concessions.
Miami-based radio producer Trina Sargalski trailed Betty on one of her Sunday-morning shifts and sent us this dispatch. [Running time: 7:13.]
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