Hope Air celebrates successful fundraising campaign

Hope Air has raised the $500,000 needed to pay for the 1,400 medical transport flights it made from the Okanagan in 2017.

The charity raised the money through a unique campaign over the winter that saw pilots complete 39,000 km of flights circumnavigating the Americas.

Passengers in the high performance, single-engine aircraft that made the journey, paid upwards of $30,000 to tag along.

Okanagan residents like Rowan McChesney benefit from Hope Air’s medical transport flights.

“Last summer, Rowan was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis,” his mom Katie McChesney said.

Rowan can’t get the medical treatment he needs in the Okanagan and his family can’t afford commercial flights to and from Vancouver every two to three months for injections and follow-up appointments.

“Everybody who I’ve met through them are so helpful and they truly want people to get the help that they need,” McChesney said.

Hope Air celebrated reaching its milestone Wednesday night with an event at Okanagan College hosted by the Kelowna Flying Club.