Aero Angel is a charity organization that provides free flights for chronically ill children. The national aviation charity provides free flights using private jets flown by a crew of volunteer, professional pilots. Commercial airline travel is sometimes not a safe option because of a child’s illness and if specialists aren’t available in an ill child’s area, that can mean repeated trips farther away to seek expert care.
Aero Angel fills that gap, allowing children to get treatment they may not have had the option for without the transportation. They offer unlimited free flights to children in need of private transportation to appointments at specialist medical centers. The service is nationwide, and last year alone made about 70 flights. Aero Angel is not an air ambulance service and limits its flights to children whose fragile medical conditions mean commercial flying is not an option.
Brittany Baillargeon, Aero Angel’s Special Projects Director said families that need long distance transportation can just go to the website aeroangel.org, and fill out a flight request form and upload a letter of medical necessity. It’s free to all families whose children can’t fly commercial and all of the costs are covered through donors. The flights are provided to families until the service is no longer needed. While there is no set minimum mileage requirement, most of the flights are at least 500 miles long from the child’s home to their destination. The business jets flown have a non-stop range of 4 hours or about 2,000 miles.
Based in Denver, Colorado, AeroAngel was founded by Denver attorney and commercial pilot Mark Pestal. His passion for aviation and a desire to help others led him to create a unique model of using volunteer professional pilots to families who desperately need it. Operating a high performance jet aircraft is expensive and requires a huge amount of resources. Through sponsors, donations and volunteers-these angels in the sky have been serving communities across the US for more than 11 years.
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Girl Scouts of the USA announced that MacKenzie Scott donated $84.5 million—their largest gift ever from one person. The generous grant will help make up for the absence of funds raised from cookie sales and membership during the pandemic. The donation, awarded to GSUSA and 29 local councils including $4.2 million to the Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys and $4.9 million to Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles.
The donation will accelerate GSUSA’s initiatives that give girls the tools to become the next generation of powerful women leaders. The group says the grant will also foster an expanded focus on career readiness and mental wellness. The money will also bolster staff and volunteer training and future-proof its facilities, including the iconic Girl Scout camp properties, including expanding both accessibility and high adventure elements at camp.
“We are so appreciative of MacKenzie Scott’s gift to Girl Scouts. This is a great accelerator for our ongoing efforts to help girls cultivate the skills and connections needed to lead in their own communities and globally,” said Girl Scouts of the USA CEO Sofia Chang. “The support from all our donors, including this generous donation from Ms. Scott, is critical in delivering on our work of reimagination and transformation. We’re excited to prove how Ms. Scott’s investment in girls will change the world—because when one girl succeeds, we all succeed.”
Since the pandemic began, the youth organization’s membership has dropped by 30%: It was a little more than 1 million in 2021-2022, down from roughly 1.4 million in 2019-2020, according to figures the group released last year. Philanthropic contributions are increasingly important, as many people incorrectly assume the Girl Scouts raise enough money to fund itself from cookie sales alone but the organization says the majority of those proceeds stays with local councils and troops.
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What began as a single life jacket loaner booth for boaters to borrow any size preserver before going on the water, has turned into the world’s largest life jacket loaner program. The program, which started in 2008, now operates loaner stations in all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands—all thanks to a Long Island, New York captain.
Capt. Joe Frohnhoefer kept seeing boating accidents and tragedies that could have been prevented, so he decided to start the nonprofit Sea Tow Foundation in 2007 to provide the education and resources to eliminate them. By the following year, the Life Jacket Loaner program was started to help prevent drownings by providing free life jackets to boaters of any size, that they can borrow and return at the end of their outing.
While Frohnhoefer passed away in 2015, his legacy lives on through the efforts of the foundation and his daughter Kristen, who is now president of the board. The Life Jacket Loaner program reached a huge milestone last month, setting up its 1,000th location at the beach in Clearwater, Florida. Executive Director Gail Kulp said “Since 2008, we’ve distributed over 90,000 life jackets. We believe that financial struggles or lack of access to resources should never be an obstacle to safety.”
Anyone needing a life jacket can check their map of every loaner location, here. Capt. Kahle, the Commander of US Coast Guard in St. Petersburg said “It’s truly game-changing when someone puts on a life jacket. The statistics don’t lie—life jackets save lives.” The foundation website also explains how people can donate life jackets to the program.
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A Florida woman braved the Hurricane Ian flood waters after seeing a stranger’s plea on social media. Christine Bomlitz was distraught as Hurricane Ian swept across southwest Florida and she could not get ahold of her 84 year old mother. Bomlitz said her mother Shirley Affolter had lost her cell phone before the storm and an evacuation vehicle had missed her on its route.
Affolter couldn’t escape on her own because she needed a walker to get around and then her landline went down. Flooding in Englewood had cut her off from her neighbors and the rest of the world. With no way to leave, she hunkered down for the night as Hurricane Ian swept across Florida. Hours passed after Ian drifted out to sea but she still had not heard from her mother.
Bomlitz posted pleas for help on social media — anywhere she could. Can someone check on her mother? “I’ve posted all night on all emergency boards as well as all Englewood storm pages checking on people. If anyone knows anyone in Englewood please give them my cell,” she wrote from her home in Las Vegas, nearly 2,500 miles away from where her mother lives in a retirement community.
Bomlitz’s pleas continued well into Thursday as she looked for someone with a boat to carry her mother and others in the neighborhood to safety. By Thursday afternoon, Good Samaritan Cheynne Prevatt, 26, came to the rescue. Prevatt had also ridden out the storm and her home sustained damage. Hurricane Ian peeled away shingles and caved in part of the ceiling when a palm tree smashed into the roof. She said “Our house didn’t really make it. All of our stuff was packed up, and we were trying to go to my grandmother’s house.” But the Florida resident waded into chest-high floodwaters to search for Affolter.
When Prevatt walked through the door she was relieved to find the woman was alive and safe. Prevatt said: “I didn’t know who she was and she was really kind of surprised to see me.” Mother and daughter were able to speak briefly on the phone but their conversation was cut short because her mom’s hearing aids had stopped working. Prevatt was able to send her a photo of her mom smiling — safe and sound which helped ease her worries. She was soon safely removed by a volunteer who had escorted her through the street’s floodwaters by paddleboard.
Bomlitz relayed in a follow-up post on how eternally thankful she was for the “angel strangers” who swam down the street to check-in on her mother. “The amazing souls, complete strangers, who came together and helped me orchestrate this from Las Vegas is astounding. I am deeply and profoundly moved beyond words by people coming together to help each other in such a way to save lives” she wrote. She commended Prevatt for wading through the waist-high water despite losing her own home in the storm. “It’s been an incredible experience. Words cannot express my sincerest gratitude to everyone. I’m thankful for this stranger, a total stranger. People are amazing.”
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Pro football player James Smith-Williams heard an advocate named Brenda Tracy speak about surviving a rape by college football players while he was a student at North Carolina State University. She shared a message that deeply resonated with him. “Her biggest takeaway was, if you’re a good man, what are you doing to be a good man?’ That really stuck with me” Smith-Williams said.
The 25-year-old defensive end for the Washington Commanders has committed himself to raising awareness and supporting survivors of sexual and domestic violence issues. In 2019, he founded the Champions program of Brenda Tracy’s nonprofit Set The Expectation to create a global network of current and former athletes using the power of their platforms to champion community agencies and groups who serve families and survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.
The network raises money and awareness for nonprofits that support survivors. To date, Champions have helped raise $117,000 for programs and served over 2,200 children. $80,000 was given directly to local Washington DC survivor support and advocacy programs for their most needed projects. $37,000 went directly to buying items to support local DC drives and events.
James has organized multiple events and taken every opportunity possible to use his platform to raise awareness and give to survivors and their families. During October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month, he’s supporting the Purple Leash Project, an initiative by Purina and the nonprofit RedRover to help domestic violence shelters become pet-friendly.
Smith-Williams said he got involved with the initiative because he was dismayed to learn that only about 15% of domestic violence shelters currently allow pets and almost half of the people who are in domestic violence situations delay leaving because of their pet. “They have nowhere to go with their pet but pets are family too” he said. James says he fully understands his individual ability to make a difference and the transformational power of athletes coming together for a cause, and it is for this reason that he founded the Champions program.
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A dog lover in Clayton, Yorkshire, has been hailed a hero for using her drone to reunite families with their lost pups. Erica Hart believes she’s rescued more than 200 dogs in the last seven years. She started a Facebook group called ieye drone where users share lost dog posts and Erica heads to missing pups’ last known location to try to locate them. She shares the happy endings on her page.
When a pet owner contacts Hart, she meets them near the last location they were spotted and uses the drone to guide them to their pet. People also post sightings of loose dogs and Hart heads there to help round them up so they can eventually be reunited with their owner. “Once that drone’s above the dog, it’s not going anywhere because I can guide people in quick enough. It’s like a military operation.”
She doesn’t charge any money for the service and says she does it purely for the love of dogs – even if it means spending money on fuel for her car instead of treating herself. “I’ve gone without stuff for myself to put petrol in the car to find a dog. When I post the happy ending on Facebook and I see the comments I lay in bed with a smile on my face and realize why I do it.”
Hart’s work has saved countless animal lives and often, she’s able to quickly cover ground that would take hours for a traditional search team which can make the difference between a safe recovery and a tragic loss.
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Cardi B donated $100,000 to her old middle school in the Bronx. The rapper returned to her alma mater to surprise students and staff at IS 232 in the Bronx on Sept. 13. She announced her donation and answered questions from staff and students. She was joined by New York City schools chancellor David C. Banks and K. Bain, the founder and executive director of Community Capacity Development, a nonprofit social justice organization.
Cardi later shared two videos from the visit on Instagram and wrote “ “I was trying to do this last year but couldn’t because of all the COVID rules at the time. This middle school, IS 232 in the Bronx, has a very special place in my heart!! It turned me from an 11 year old girl into a little teenage adult. Kids in the Bronx have to grow up quickly due to our circumstances and our environment. While some young teens like around 11-13 still live in that Disney world, these kids have to grow up fast and QUICK.”
The rapper continued, “Like a lot of these kids I went through so much while I was going to school here. Experiences that changed me forever and made me who I am today. I hope my donation can help create an amazing after school program that will help kids stay out the streets or a troubled home and most importantly allow them to learn something that they can take with them through LIFE. Thank you Community Capacity Development @ccdworldwide and K. Bain for partnering with me to also visit different schools and programs in Queens and Brooklyn. I love being able to help young kids however I can and I can’t waiiiittttt to tell y’all what I’ve been working on for the past two years. It’s something super close to my heart and I can’t wait to share very soon.”
This isn’t the first time Cardi B has shown her generosity. She paid the funeral expenses for the 17 people who lost their lives in a devastating Bronx apartment fire in January. Her representatives said the rapper made sure that all of the victims’ families were included in her donation and that the final wishes for their loved ones were met.
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A UPS driver in Iowa is being hailed as a hero for saving two dogs from drowning in a family’s swimming pool. Colin Mitchell dropped off a package at the home of Jeff and Rebecca Marra. As he walked back to his truck he noticed two dogs swimming in a pool without their owners anywhere in sight.
Feeling uneasy about the situation, Mitchell said he attempted to get the homeowners attention by knocking on the door, ringing the doorbell and yelling, “can your dogs swim?” which was caught on the ring camera. “I knocked a little louder, rang the doorbell… nothing. And then I just decided it was best to investigate,” Mitchell said.
As he got closer he saw one dog hanging on the side of the pool while the other was trying to get onto the solar cover. He ran to the pool and removed his socks and shoes to try to save them. After helping the smaller dog, Groot, and their bigger 90 lb dog, Remington, get out of the pool and back in the yard, Mitchell continued his route for the day.
The next day he stopped by to check on the dogs. The homeowners, Jeff and Rebecca Marra said the dogs had somehow gotten through the pool gate, typically locked, before jumping into the pool with no way out. They were shocked and thankful for Mitchell’s good deed saying the dogs would have been stuck in the pool another 3 hours had it not been for Mitchell’s actions.
“If it weren’t for him we wouldn’t have dogs, there’s no question about it,” Jeff Marra said. “I would say that he is a hero,” Rebecca added. They shared Mitchell’s heroics on social media and UPS caught wind of it and shared the post on the company’s page.
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American novelist and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated two Beverly Hills homes to charity for a total of $55 million. The California Community Foundation (CCF), a nonprofit philanthropic organization based in Los Angeles announced that Scott, 52, donated “two single-family residences valued at $55 million” to the foundation in July. The gated 2.5 acre compound includes a 12,000 square foot main residence built in the 1990s, a 4,500 square foot guesthouse, a swimming pool, a full size tennis court and 6 car garage.
The first home was purchased by Scott and her ex-husband Jeff Bezos in 2007 for $24.45 million. The second home was purchased by the couple in 2017 for $12.9 million. The CCF hopes to quickly sell the high-maintenance spread, with the proceeds going towards affordable housing projects and an immigrant integration program. “The cost of housing stands out as one of the most critical issues affecting the lives of millions of Los Angeles residents. A priority for Ms. Scott, the primary focus of the $55 million will be to permanently endow grantmaking efforts to benefit Angelenos in need of affordable housing,” CCF said in a statement.
CCF has been an advocacy leader for increased affordable housing production, helping lead the passage of Proposition HHH, an initiative to add 10,000 new units in the City of Los Angeles by 2026. Los Angeles is poised to exceed its target by funding 10,510 units in 178 projects. Scott’s gift will permanently support the expansion of these grantmaking efforts. This is the second time Scott has donated to the organization, giving the nonprofit $20 million last year to create the LA Arts Endowment Fund.
Scott, whose estimated net worth is $37 billion makes her the 29th richest person in the world. Scott still owns 4% of Amazon after selling $8.5 billion in company stocks. After her divorce from Jeff Bezos, Scott signed the Giving Pledge, promising to donate at least half of her wealth over her lifetime, and has since gifted billions of her dollars to large and small organizations dedicated to social equity. She has so far donated more than $12 billion to charitable causes and groups as part of the Giving Pledge. Earlier this year, Scott donated $436 million to Habitat for Humanity. Last year she announced donations of $2.7 billion to nearly 300 organizations.
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A 12-year-old from Oklahoma City became the youngest black college student in Oklahoma history. Elijah Muhammad Jr. started his freshman year at Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) last month, enrolling in three classes as part of his cyber security major. Muhammad, who is home-schooled and currently a senior, graduating with his associate’s degree and his high school diploma at the same time next year.
Muhammad is also a three-time state champion wrestler and began a clothing line called Smart Boy. The soon-to-be teen plans to go to an HBCU after he graduates. His proud father, Elijah Muhammad Sr., said “He was very attentive, and there were things I noticed from when he was two years old that were just different, and I was like it’s time to cultivate this.”
Elijah Sr. said his son is not the only prodigy in his family. His sister, Shania, became the youngest person to enroll at OCCC at 13. She was also the youngest to graduate, at 14, in May. She held the record until her little brother beat her. “His sister just made history as the youngest graduate from Langston University and Oklahoma Community College with two associate’s degrees on the same day,” Muhammad Sr. said.
“We have a bunch of competitiveness but she really helps me out with a lot of my studying,” said Elijah Jr. Now that Muhammad Jr. has broken his sister’s record, he plans to follow in her footsteps to land scholarships to help pay for his education. “I’m very excited about getting scholarships because I’ve seen my sister get multiple scholarships and I was like, man, I can’t wait until I start getting my scholarships.” While he hasn’t decided where he will attend school he says he’s keeping his options open. “I heard Hampton does have a good cybersecurity program, but I’m just exploring my options right now.”
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