Dear Wings of Hope Family,
As we think back on the most used words of the past year, surely one of them will be “pause.” In so many different ways, as a community and as individuals, we were asked to “pause” our regular activities. We were asked to fight back against the threat of a pandemic by restricting our activities — by pausing. For a society of doers, this “nondoing” was not easy.
Amid all this pausing, you made it possible for Wings of Hope to continue to do the good and important work of changing and saving lives through the power of aviation. We did not, by any measure, pause our mission.
Despite a few weeks of being grounded, we continued our MAT operations — providing free flights to 169 patients during these unprecedented (another much-used word) times.
We continued to serve communities at our global sites, providing lifesaving and lifechanging medical care to people in places like Tanzania, Colombia and Zambia.
You continued to support us at record levels, responding to our annual appeal campaign with $186,022 in year-end giving — $66,000 more than we anticipated.
Tickets to our two most recent airplane raffles sold out again — you didn’t let a pandemic dampen your enthusiasm for supporting Wing of Hope or winning a plane.
We added four new board members whose combined expertise in aviation, business and leadership have already strengthened our operations and energized our purpose going forward.
We grew our staff, boosting our talent in the areas of development, global programs and in the hangar.
As we feel the optimism of coming out of this extended “pause,” with some impatience and much anticipation, we recognize that this test was not too much for Wings of Hope.
I am so grateful to you for helping us fill and find meaning in the “pause.” As we look ahead to a world no longer in lockdown, let’s also look forward to soaring to new heights together.
Bret Heinrich,
President & CEO