Four hundred guests, volunteer pilots, corporate partners, celebrities and aviation luminaries gathered beneath the Space Shuttle Endeavour in the Samuel L. Oschin Pavilion at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Through your generosity, we raised more than $675,000! This enables AFW to arrange more than 3,000 missions to provide free flights to children, veterans, rescue animals, and individuals seeking medical treatment or other life-saving resources.
“We were very proud to recognize Bill Ayer and our incredible partnership with Alaska Airlines with an Inspiration Award,” said Mark Wolper, President & Executive Producer of The Wolper Organization at Warner Bros. As CEO of Alaska Airlines, Bill established our partnership 15 years ago, donating commercial tickets valued at $1,000,000 annually, primarily for Alaska residents, but also for patients living in areas where weather can ground smaller aircraft. In addition, In times of natural disasters Alaska Airlines contributes frequent flier miles donated by its customers, and allocates seats to transport emergency response personnel, and to reunite and relocate families.
We were also thrilled to recognize Dale Klapmeier and Cirrus Aircraft with an Inspiration Award for inspiring pilots through the “Cirrus Life” to give back to their communities using donated flights for humanitarian needs. Cirrus Aircraft and its partners have donated more than $100,000, and 450-plus Cirrus pilots volunteer their time and aircraft to charitable aviation. The three honorees were:
AFW Pilot Bob Schaper, for surpassing 1,000 charitable flights for AFW, only the second time a pilot has achieved this in AFW history!
Wanda Whitsitt, the Founder & Volunteer Pilot for LifeLine Pilots. Founded in 1981, Lifeline Pilots (LLP) is the oldest regional volunteer pilot organization, and the oldest VPO flying patients in the U.S.
Dr. Kevin D’Angelo, of Orchard Park New York, volunteer for Wings Flights of Hope. Kevin began flying compassion fights in 2000 and has completed nearly 150 missions.
We thank our generous event sponsors: AOPA, Pegasus Elite Aviation, Alaska Airlines, Cirrus Aircraft, Jeppesen, Steve Danz, UCLA, Anthem Blue Cross, NBAA, The Kauffman Family Foundation, Windermere Real Estate, HomeSmart, and Clay Lacy Aviation among many others!
And an equally big thank you to our amazing event co-chairs, Mark Wolper and Dr. Randy Sherman, our Host Committee, and hosts Alison Sweeney and Matt Rogers.
Finally, thank you to the evening’s generous auction bidders like Maverick, Ice Man, Viper, Black Widow, Governor Gorgeous, and of course our inspiring passengers who courageously shared their stories with us. You can still support our passengers, AFW and the Endeavor Awards with a gift at http://https://angelflightwest.org/donate/, by sharing our photos and story with friends, or most importantly, volunteer! Hope to see you at Endeavor Awards 2019!
Get more updates from Angel Flight West in our Spring, 2018 Newsletter.
