Summary
Organization name
Angel Flight West
1983
Tax id (EIN)
95-3956297
Category
Human Services
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
3163 Donald Douglas Loop SouthSanta Monica, CA 90405
CO, US
A toddler needs care at a hospital 300-miles away for a condition her local doctors can’t treat. A senior living off social security can’t make an hours-long drive to see a specialist for a complicated illness. A single mom must travel out of state for complex surgery not available at any facility near her home. At Angel Flight West, we offer help and hope to people like these every day.
The ability to travel easily is something that most people take for granted. But for those in critical situations, the financial, physical, and emotional burdens can make an ordinary trip extraordinarily difficult. That’s when they turn to Angel Flight West. We remove transportation as a barrier to care by arranging flights donated by our extensive network of volunteer pilots and commercial airline partners, who donate all costs to make these important journeys possible.
In addition to medical flights, Angel Flight West missions include domestic violence relocation, and transportation for children and young people participating in specialty medical summer camps.
Our dedicated team manages the process that makes this work possible: arranging all missions, matching pilots with passengers, spreading the word throughout the healthcare and social work communities, and continuously recruiting new volunteers. It’s much like running a small airline, carried out with extra compassion.
All services are free to our passengers, their families, and health care organizations. Our Mission Coordinators handle each request with care and confidentiality.
We’ve flown more than 109,500 missions since our founding in 1984, serving 12 western states on behalf of hundreds of patients. In Colorado, we’ve flown nearly 1,285 flights for residents in the past 10 years. Our health care partners include Children’s Hospital and the University of Colorado Health, along with smaller facilities and agencies across the state.
Overall, one-third of our passengers are children or youth, and 80% are designated at low- or poverty income levels.
Angel Flight West delivers health and hope using donated flights to serve those with health care or other compelling human needs. In the air, we link volunteer pilots and commercial airline partners with people whose non-emergency health needs require long-distance travel to access care. On the ground, volunteer drivers ferry passengers to and from their departure and destination airports.
In 1983, a small group of pilots in Santa Monica, Calif. with a love of flying were looking for a way to give meaning to their flights.
“What if,” they asked, “we could find people who don’t have a way to get to medical care? What if we offered them a ride?”
The next year, they flew a dozen people to their appointments, and Angel Flight West was born.
Today, Angel Flight West serves 12 Western states with a roster of more than 1,850 volunteer pilots. In 2023 we celebrated our 100,000th mission and our 40th year of service, and we’re looking forward to many more.
Organization name
Angel Flight West
1983
Tax id (EIN)
95-3956297
Category
Human Services
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
3163 Donald Douglas Loop SouthCO, US