The "Give Hope Wings" journey took off from Kelowna International Airport today.
3 men will be traveling 20,000 miles while circumnavigating Central and South America and stopping at 50 airports in 20 countries. A journey that will last for the next 60 days.
In 2016, Dave McElroy of Kelowna and Russ Airey met while they were part of a 6-plane, 6000 mile epic flight across the Canadian Arctic and Alaskan wildernesses. Soon after that, Dave conceived an idea integrating his love of flight and adventure with the desire to “give back.” He presented his concept to Russ and Give Hope Wings was born. The crew soon fleshed out when Harold Fast joined. Harold is also a pilot.
In addition to raising at least $500,000 for Hope Air, the crew also intends to increase awareness of this unique Canadian charity and its life-saving work. Hope Air provides over 1000 free flights across Canada each month to people that need to travel to get medical help but can't afford the cost of doing so.
McElroy says the men chose Hope Air in part because of how cost effective the organization is. "Only 12 cents of every dollar that goes into Hope Air goes to administration. The other 88 cents goes to purchasing flights or arranging with volunteer pilots."
They've almost reached their goal of half a million over the last year but McElroy says they'd like to raise a million if possible.
GO HERE to show support, track their journey and to find out more.