Senator Elizabeth Dole, a longtime Wings of Hope Honorary Council member, has signed on as honorary chair of our Soaring to New Heights Endowment Campaign to secure the future of the Wings of Hope Medical Relief & Air Transport (MAT) program. She joins Wings of Hope Board Chairman Don Kukla and Board Director Kelli Fabick who are the campaign co-chairs.
Senator Dole expressed her passion for supporting the families who care for the people Wings of Hope flies.
“As a caregiver myself, I understand the immense pressures on caregivers. This is why I founded the Elizabeth Dole Foundation to honor, support and empower our nation’s military caregivers. I call them our hidden heroes. The Wings of Hope Medical Relief & Air Transport program also supports these hidden heroes by taking away the burden of transportation to medical care – a burden that is crashing down on more and more families as hospitals close at an unprecedented rate.”
The goal of the endowment campaign is to ensure Wings of Hope has the capital to secure the planes needed, cultivate the next generation of volunteer pilots, and expand the MAT program – allowing us to serve 50% more people with free transportation to health care.
The campaign recently received a big boost with a $1 million gift from the William R. Orthwein, Jr. and Laura Rand Orthwein Foundation, growing the endowment to nearly $8 million and moving it closer to its $10 million phase-one goal.
“My family has deep roots in the St. Louis community and we are committed to caring for it. The Foundation made a significant initial investment in Wings of Hope in 2007 and a more significant additional investment in 2010, for the same reason we are investing in their endowment today,” said Foundation President Nettie O. Dodge. “We believe in Wings of Hope and its mission. Our investment in Wings of Hope today will help to ensure that they will be able to provide their excellent services well into the future.”
Interested in doing your part to ensure the future of the MAT program? Please contact Laura Helling or Amy Cole Buehler at amy.buehler@wingsofhope.ngo for more information or to set up a meeting to learn more about Wings of Hope.