Greetings AFW Angels,
When our newsletter editor Jess asked me if I wanted to write my column this issue, I said yes. I wanted to reflect on 28 years with Angel Flight West. Yep, 28 years – I have been fortunate enough to be a part of this amazing group of volunteers, board members, passengers and staff for nearly three decades. My tenure has spanned an era when all our upcoming missions showed on a whiteboard in our office and has transitioned over the years to complex and efficient technology assisting the Mission Operations Team. It has gone from completing just over 900 missions a year to achieving nearly 5,000 missions a year. Our staff size has quadrupled, the number of pilot volunteers has doubled, and we are serving more and more passengers each year.
It shouldn’t go unmentioned that COVID put the brakes on our growth curve. We had moved into larger offices to accommodate our development team, and our numbers were increasing annually. And then, like the rest of the world, things came to a halt. But we regrouped and began flying PPE and relief supplies. The most influential change that came out of the pandemic was that our staff became mostly remote. As we slowly climb out of the impact of COVID, we are looking to the future and ways to increase the numbers of those we serve.
However, for me, these 28 years aren’t really about numbers, or technology, or office space – these 28 years reflect the people I’ve met along the way. Since I started in 1997, I have made some lifelong, valuable friendships with pilots, passengers, board members and staff. I have some incredibly beautiful or fun memories, and I have some incredibly sad ones. The fun ones include just day-to-day operations; they include travel and meeting others across the country; they include our annual board meeting and retreat and so many more. The sad ones reflect those we’ve lost along the way – some of whom were my dear friends – or those who simply drifted away. I have worked with over 40 different staff in Mission Operations alone, I’ve seen five different executive directors, and been around for over one hundred board members who serve AFW. I’m going to share a few special memories – there is no way I could begin to mention everyone – I’d have to write a book for that. So, I’m just going to mention a few incredible moments I’ve had in the last 28 years!
I’ve met and become close with board members who have become friends, mentors, and more. From supporting me during a difficult time at AFW, to holding me up during some personal challenges, and to imparting their wisdom both to our organization and to me personally… I am blessed by their time, their expertise, and their humanity.
I can’t begin to name all the pilots I’ve met over the years – I’m guessing there are thousands. There were the 40-plus pilots who flew a passenger and his wife back and forth from their home in the Sierras to Stanford every day so that they could be back home in the evening with their toddler children; there was the group of 30 pilots and staff who gathered for a memorial service for a young man who fought valiantly to beat cancer and didn’t survive. We organized the service because his family didn’t have the resources to hold a funeral. There was the pilot in Washington who became our first pilot to hit 1,000 missions and the two who have joined that club since. There have been pilots over the years who have helped families in other ways, proactively offering to pay a late bill or help with the purchase of groceries. And there are the pilots who fly one or a few missions a year who make an indelible impact on the lives of those we transport.
It is the passengers who have been etched forever in my heart – Lamar, the young man we had a funeral for; Mariah, who beat cancer and has been flying with us for 21 years. I’ll never forget Jaime, a little 5-year-old who lost his life to a failed transplant – but my favorite memory of him will be his going into the ladies bathroom, locking the stall, and sliding out from underneath so we couldn’t get in. There was Karen, the young woman who lost both arms and legs to a terrible illness and went on to thrive – even walking the runway in a New York City fashion show. There were passengers over the years who just called to talk, sometimes because life was overwhelming them, sometimes because they were filled with such gratitude.
There are so many more of these folks – but I hope you can see how 28 years have shaped me and enriched my life in so many ways. I guess I can’t say… here is to 28 more 😉 – but I hope that I can continue to be a part of this amazing organization for years to come.
Blue Skies and Ciao,
Cheri
