'Give Hope Wings' expedition spreads awareness for Hope Air

Pilots took to the skies to raise awareness for a good cause last week. The last plane touched down on Friday at the Regina International Airport to conclude the 6th annual expedition for the ‘Give Hope Wings’ charity organization.

The campaign ran from June 5 – 23, and pilots took three separate routes across Canada. One expedition took place in Western Canada, one in Eastern Canada, and one in the prairies.

The goal was to promote awareness for Hope Air.

Hope Air is a charitable organization dedicated to providing every Canadian with access to healthcare, regardless of their location or financial situation. The mission of the organization is to provide this transportation and accommodation free of charge when it is needed most.

Departure from Regina Airport

Pilots in the prairie expedition departed from the Regina International Airport on June 18, with 10 light aircraft and all returned on June 23.

After a small send-off celebration in Regina, the prairie expedition visited 11 communities from across the prairie provinces. At each stop they attended a local event such as a barbecue and spoke to locals to spread awareness.

Their goal is to raise $600,000 for the charity between all three expeditions across Canada. There has been no announcement yet regarding the total amount raised this year.

Kyle Jacques recalls his flight 

Kyle Jacques is the owner of the Winmar franchise. He lives in Regina, but works at the location in Moose Jaw, plus five other locations, and he also happens to be a pilot.

Flying is “Something I’ve always wanted to do as a kid and it was always an interest,” recalled Jacques. “One year my wife got me the gift of a flight around Regina and that sparked it all over again and started the journey.”

Today he pilots his own Cessna 172 aircraft.

“With the six (Winmar) locations that I have, it has become a transportation tool. Instead of writing off trucks every two years with the mileage I drive, I invested in an aircraft to commute back and forth between the offices and that works well.”

Jacques believes strongly in community involvement, and as CEO, he applies the same at Winmar.

Winmar has always been community focused. “We’re always looking at events for fundraisers, charitable donations, sponsorship for teams… we’re quite community involved.

“We’re always in the community and part of the community… (In) any way that we can give back and get involved…,” he said.

Jacques said his love of flying led him to this organization. “I was actually looking for a reason to fly and something to do personally before I bought an aircraft. I thought it would be neat to do angel flights like they have in the U.S. I started looking that up for Canada and came across Hope Air, and that’s where I made initial contact.

He does not currently transport medical patients for Hope Air but said that he may do so in the future.

“This flight… is treated as an expedition… just to raise awareness and spread the word about Hope Air,” he explained. “It (Hope Air) is not being utilized as it should be or could be in Saskatchewan right now.

“Saskatchewan -- in the prairies -- everything is so far apart. I can see how some people might not have the means to get to a major city for medical treatment or the attention that they might need.”

All scheduled destinations were reached except one, but not every aircraft could make all the stops due to weather. This is because the expedition contained a variety of light aircraft with different capabilities.

“The expedition had 12 cities plotted out, and they went to 11 of the 12 cities. The one city they didn’t make it to was due to fuel availability, so it wasn’t viable to go because of that.

“With my aircraft not being as capable as some of the others, I wasn’t able to get to The Pas or Thompson...

“The group made it; a couple of us were not able to make it there because of the weather.”

Jacques’ expedition took him from Regina to Brandon, Winnipeg to La Ronge, Prince Albert to Fort McMurray, Edmonton to Calgary, and ultimately back to Regina.

Altogether, Jacques reported that he flew a total of 3,500 km over six days, which accounted for 25 hours of total flight time.

Spreading the word

“Every location had something, whether a museum tour or something to keep the pilots entertained. There was community involvement,” said Jacques, noting that members of the community came to ask questions and the pilots were able to spread awareness.

Hosted inside museums or in hangars, everything was set up on site and utilized local resources. Local companies and vendors came together to offer their support so everyone had the chance to attend.

And within the expedition, “There was pilot camaraderie… pilots doing something that they love and spreading the word about a good cause.

“If I’m available, I will definitely do it (again) next year.”

Hope Air is available to everybody. “That’s one of the things I found intriguing. You don’t have to fit certain criteria or meet certain income levels… you fill out an application, that application is looked at by a human, and the conversation starts from there.”

If you or a loved one is ever in need of medical attention, consider visiting the HopeAir.ca website.