CHARLOTTE — One airport volunteer has been spent the last 10 years making travel a little more pleasant.
Among the chaos of Charlotte Douglas International Airport is Ken Brown, calmly waiting to offer help and a smile.
He’s been volunteering at the airport since he retired from the banking industry a decade ago.
“I started here, and I love it,” Brown said. “I miss it when I don’t come.”
He offers directions to gates, lounges, and baggage claim, answering whatever the question may be.
Most commonly, people want to know where they can find ice cream, he said.
“They don’t have ice cream in the airport,” Brown said. “There’s froyo, but no ice cream.”
Brown says he looks forward to his work at the airport.
“I just love meeting the people, and especially the people that don’t speak English that I just use Google translation and help them,” he said.
Brown and his wife have traveled a lot, so this is a way of paying it forward.
“We’ve really had to depend on people like me helping us get through,” he said.
Brown says it’s a role he takes seriously.
“I think it’s absolutely critical,” he said. “I think we, we are an ambassador of the city, helping them, and because we’ve had a lot of comments about this, it’s so wonderful to move through this airport and have this kind of help, so it’s really very nice.”
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