The ultimate goal of Angel Flight West and its volunteers is helping people in need. In an effort to extend our services to even more people, we are seeking to add functionality to our existing mission coordination system to allow us to coordinate ground transportation in much the same way we coordinate the air transportation. We’ll connect passengers with volunteer drivers who will provide necessary ground transportation.
Auto-Pilots Project
We know that ground transportation is a barrier for many people. Even though our flights are free, and we cover 99% of the distance to their life-saving medical treatment, the cost of the “last mile” is preventing many people from utilizing our service and getting the help they need. It boils down to the cost of a cab ride. For many, the $25-$50 fare is too much, and they forego our free air transportation and the free medical treatment that’s available to them.
We currently have ‘Auto Pilot’ programs running in a few cities, formerly referred to as “Earth Angels”, so we know it works. We have a number of volunteer drivers, and have partnered with Rotary and Lions Clubs, as an example, to help with the coordination. But without a way to manage the coordination more efficiently, it is staff and time intensive and we can’t scale the program to other cities.
When the project is done, these organizations, plus others who adopt the software in the future, will be able to efficiently expand their outreach efforts to get the word out to more people in need.
Cost
It will cost $12,610 to add the necessary features to our current software (see Kickstarter page linked below for details on the use of funds). It will allow these organizations, and others in the future, to efficiently coordinate ground transportation throughout the country.
This project will not only benefit Angel Flight West, but many other Volunteer Pilot Organizations across the country. Collectively, these organizations fly more than 10,000 flights per year, and all feel the compelling need to fill the need for ground transportation as well.
Where you come in…
Please visit our Auto-Pilots Kickstarter Page to learn more and to donate to this project.
If you think the project is cool, but don’t want to contribute, please help us get the word out and share this with your communities on social media. If you’re a pilot, volunteer to fly! If not, maybe you’d like to be a driver (once we get our system up and running). We need all kinds of help in all kinds of ways.
