Experience Flight with Hope Air

3 603 miles –

this is the approximate distance a person might have needed to drive for a medical appointment. In its 32 years of operation, the longest flight they have arranged to date was between Halifax and Vancouver.

Hope Air, a national non-profit organization who increase accessibility to healthcare by providing free flights to medical appointments across Canada. With the average flight inside of Canada costing in the hundreds, it may be a surprise as to how Hope Air has managed to provide 129898 flights thus far.

Lauren Churchill, Junior Development Coordinator, shares the not-so-secret secret behind how they have managed to stay in service all this time,

“Hope Air’s funding comes from our incredible supporters who make our work possible. Each year we fulfill thousands of travel arrangements [for] healthcare through the three following programs:

1. The Flight Purchase Program allows Hope Air to arrange commercial flights for Canadians in need. Generous support from donors funds more than 70 per cent of Hope Air flights.

2. The Commercial Airline Donation Program benefits from the generosity of many of Canada’s commercial airlines through the use of donated seats.

3. Hope Air’s Volunteer Pilot Program organizes private pilots from across Canada to volunteer their time and aircraft to fly patients to their appointments.

In addition to these programs, Hope Air is fortunate to be supported by a diverse group of over 150 volunteers who assist in all aspects of our work, from taking flight requests to writing grant requests and assisting at events. Volunteers help Hope Air make a big impact with a small staff contingent.”

With all this support, Hope Air, formerly known as Mission Air, continues to be the only national charity offering this service that is not limited by age or illness. Serving a very broad demographic since 1986, this non-profit was reported in 2017 that only 8% of the people they have helped were former clients. With 60% of their travel arrangements coming from British Columbia, the only other clear trend shared by Churchill was that 24% of their clients required treatment and follow-up appointments in relation to cancer. One can only imagine what brought the other 92% to Hope Air.

Now in order to meet their expanding client base, this year, the rebranded organization will strive to grow their development team. Hopefully with more funding coming in, they will be able to say to more people, “Your flight has been booked”.

Website: https://hopeair.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hopeair