Supporters FAQs

What is the geographic area served by Angel Flight Central?

Initially serving the Greater Kansas City area, Angel Flight Central expanded its franchise area in February 2000 coordinating missions to, from and through a 10-state region — Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. As a regional member organization of Angel Flight America, AFC has access to nationwide destinations for its passengers.

What is your target audience served?

Any individual and/or organization requiring transportation, primarily by air, but cannot afford the cost.

What is the history of the organization, including major accomplishments?

Following a two-year feasibility study, Angel Flight Central, Inc. (originally Wings Over Mid-America) was founded in August, 1995 with four volunteer pilots hoping to help a total of two passengers per month. By the end of the organization’s 11^th fiscal year AFC will have flown a total of nearly 8,000 missions helping over 3,000 passengers. The Board of Trustees has kept the goal of founder, James Stevens, Jr. in focus: “We are simply about people helping people in need.”

During its 5^th year of operation, the Board supported the creation of Angel Flight America, “Your nationwide charitable aviation network” and seven member organizations united to ensure that transportation costs never be an obstacle for those with medical needs. The network, now know as Air Charity Network™, is significantly expanding public awareness of this unique charitable aviation service. Its volunteer pilots help transport rural residents to regional facilities and link with other Angel Flight teams for longer flights to access specialized health care organizations more efficiently and effectively. Nearly half of AFC’s flights are “linked” with another pilot. The network also accesses other aviation resources including free and discounted fares on commercial airlines for those destinations exceeding 1,000 miles.

What are the services available through Angel Flight Central?

Be it a child requiring medical treatment in another area of the country or an adult requiring travel due to a family crisis, Angel Flight Central attempts to match each special need with a volunteer pilot who can help. Angel Flight offers FREE air transportation and timely help to thousands of families with financial problems.

Angel Flight is filling a critical gap in the health care support structure in our area, yet remains one of the area’s best-kept secrets. We offer our passengers not only free air transportation, but hope. We offer our volunteer pilots not only organizational support for their flight, but an opportunity to experience first hand how their generosity touches the people they transport. We offer the people who volunteer in our offices and on our phone line the opportunity not only to help others, but also to grow personally through the gift of their time and talents. Our organization includes every age group from the infant passengers to retirees who support the mission screening and coordination team.

What are the outcomes and how does Angel Flight benefit the community?

Bottom line: Angel Flight Central saves lives.
Our volunteer pilots provide access to distant specialized care.
The generosity of our entire volunteer group provides help and hope.

The unpredictability of life could put any of us in a position of need. Angel Flight Central helps ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Accidents happen while traveling which leave victims with no remaining financial resources to return home. People in physically and emotionally harmful situations see no affordable way to escape to a safe haven. A dying family member may have no hope of experiencing the joy of their child’s wedding in a distant city. And, most commonly, illnesses that are often terminal may require diagnosis or treatment from specialized facilities across the country. Some of our passengers who cannot benefit from treatment themselves will even travel long distances to undergo research treatments in hopes of helping future victims of their specific illness. In all of these situations, personal financial and insurance resources will only cover a portion of the costs associated with the illness and/or crisis. It is the mission of AFC to remove the financial burden of air transportation as an obstacle to receiving medical or compassionate care.

How is Angel Flight Central accountable to its donors and the community?

Our success is best measured by a patient who receives life-saving medical treatment; a cancer patient who participates in distant research to hopefully save the lives of others; a volunteer who takes time out of their holiday schedule with family and friends to help arrange a flight for a stranger; and, the many hugs, grateful tears and smiles of passengers and family members who are recovering from the physical and emotional challenges they’ve experienced. In our quarterly newsletter and our annual report, we publish some of the heart-warming stories our pilots share. We also publish the following information: number of missions, passengers, charitable miles, flight hours, flight value donated, pilot value donated, number of active pilots volunteering, number of missions linked with affiliate organizations nationwide, and donations received from individuals, corporations, foundations and religious organizations.

How does Angel Flight communicate its mission to various constituencies?

Speaker’s Bureau presentations to local groups, organizations, foundations, corporations and churches; news releases and media coverage including television, newspaper and radio; printed materials including quarterly newsletters, general brochures, and posters; personal contact via telephone, mailings and email all contribute to our communication efforts.

Does Angel Flight Central use paid staff and volunteers?

AFC continues its advancement by fostering relationships with various partnerships within the greater Kansas City area as well as affiliate charitable aviation organizations nationwide. To accomplish the aggressive goals of the organization set forth by the Board of Trustees, a full-time staff of seven works out of our office at the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport. These full-time staff positions allow AFC to better leverage its volunteer resources.

Volunteers founded Angel Flight Central and we remain committed to volunteerism. Not only do our volunteer pilots allow us to exist, but also the active members of the Board of Directors, past passengers who now lend a hand and our large base of administrative volunteers are essential to our successful mission. For two years, the work of the organization was entirely done by volunteer members of the Board. Even with the addition of paid staff, the Executive Committee remains involved with AFC’s activities. All major decisions are discussed and approved by either the Executive Committee or entire Board.

Do donations to Angel Flight help accomplish targeted outcomes?

Thanks to successful grassroots funding, our passengers are never charged for their flight. AFC is a very cost effective service provider. For every cash contribution of $1, pilots donate approximately $3 in flight services. Our volunteer pilots donate all of the costs associated with each flight. Approximately 70% of the costs associated with the general operational budget, salaries, volunteer support and mission screening and coordination are now funded by individual and corporate donations.

Therefore, foundations and grantors have the opportunity to help us not only with operations but to solve specific project challenges including awareness campaigns, large fund raising events, ground transportation chapters called “Earth Angels, “ printed materials, local WINGS (grassroots chapters) development, etc. We report all results to our donors in the form of number of people helped or volunteers recruited or additional dollars raised due to the grant as accurately and specifically as feasible. We will also complete forms required by each supporter.

How does Angel Flight use technology to accomplish its mission and outcomes?

Technology is extremely important to our mission. AFC’s web site and access to the Internet allows us to communicate current and correct information with all of our passengers, pilots, volunteers, supporters and partnership organizations. The “Missions Available ” bulletin board on our web site informs volunteer pilots of opportunities that match their location and time schedule. We currently coordinate in excess of 50% of our missions online. We also hope developing/acquiring more efficient software will help us to better access, distribute, organize and coordinate our own information.

Before a person is approved for an Angel Flight, our mission screeners require a third party professional’s verification of financial need and a signed medical approval form from the involved physician which states the passenger is able to fly in a small non-pressurized aircraft. Once a passenger is approved, a mission coordinator matches the passenger(s) with a volunteer pilot and aircraft. Then, the flight logistics and planning is completed, and all data related to the flight is entered into our Mission Database. AFC could not accomplish its mission without the technology of faxes, pagers, phones, computers and e-mail.

My company/foundation only supports nationwide organizations. Can I give to Air Charity Network instead of Angel Flight Central and be assured that the donation is benefiting my local community?

Yes. One of the major purposes of forming Air Charity Network was to create a networking opportunity for regional member organizations. Operational processes are improved at a local level by the knowledge and experiences shared. And, national scale marketing efforts can be accomplished much more cost-effectively by pooling resources and energy together through Air Charity Network. Donations given to the national organization are specifically used to support the common efforts of the local grassroots Angel Flight groups involved.