“We’re the most charitable people on the planet,” writes Tom Purcell in a Pittsburgh Tribune Review column, responding to a study on America’s giving habits. The findings were presented on ABC’s 20/20 in 2006 by reporter John Stossel.

Purcell shares other compelling facts from the study. “According to a professor Stossel interviewed, an expert on charitable giving, Americans give three and one-half times more per capita than the French, seven times more than the Germans and 14 times more than the Italians.”

Private giving far outweighs that of the federal government. In regard to that, here’s another interesting finding:  “The people who give the most, as a percentage of their wealth, aren’t the richest Americans or even middle-class Americans — they’re the folks on the lower end of the economic scale. They give almost 30 percent more of their income than anybody else.”

Purcell goes on to say that Americans are “a generous people for a lot of reasons, but the chief one, in my humble opinion, is that our civilization was formed around Judeo-Christian values — values that include kindness and compassion and charity.”

Amen to that.

I mention Purcell’s article because it encourages me and makes me appreciate more than ever our faithful supporters who like everyone else are feeling the effects of national and global economic instability—yet continuing to give in spite of it. Without your generous contributions, our patients would be unable to access specialized medical care that so often means the difference between life and death. To you I say thank you.

But there’s another reason I’ve mentioned Stossel’s study, and that is to appeal to you for help. The good news is that this help won’t cost you anything but a few minutes of time each day in June. Air Compassion for Veterans, MMA’s program to help wounded veterans and their families, is one of the charities competing in a campaign sponsored by Pepsi called the Pepsi Refresh Project that will award $250,000 to the nonprofit organization that gets the most votes (to be tallied at the end of June).

It’s easy to vote. Go to http://www.refresheverything.com/woundedwarriorfreeairtransportation and provide your email address and a password. Then cast your vote—and vote every day. Tell your friends, co-workers and family members to do so, too. These funds will go far in making sure our men and women in uniform who have suffered harm in battle can get the treatment they need. To learn more about what we are doing to help those who have sacrificed on our behalf, visit www.AirCompassionforVeterans.org.

Yesterday I attended a “Funders Forum” in Norfolk, Virginia, presented by Volunteer Hampton Roads, that featured a panel of professionals representing foundations and corporations that support nonprofit organizations in our region. Here are a few of my notes:

Grantors are more likely to fund nonprofits that are working collaboratively.

The political environment is increasingly unfriendly toward philanthropy. Nonprofits are urged to hold their ground and not hunker down.

Grantors are more inclined to give to groups addressing urgent human needs.

Foundations and businesses are backing away from event sponsorships, preferring to give capital funds.

Composition and size of boards is of vital importance. Not too big (40—ouch!) and not too small (4—puny!), with a good diversity of members.

Nonprofits must have clear data showing results.

As for the last point, I just received figures from our CEO and president, Ed Boyer, demonstrating results that should make any donor –whether an individual, a group, a business or a foundation—feel good about giving to MMA. Here are the stats:

Airline statistics during the last 12 months from today – 

Total missions flown:  8,093. 

2,247 (27%) were cancer patients

594 (7%) were rare disease cancer patients

1,256 (15%) were rare disease patients

Total of these patients is 4,097, or 49% of total.

Remainder were wounded Iraq or Afghanistan war (U.S.) veterans and/or the adversely affected family members.  This was 51%.

Of the 4,097 non-veteran patients flown, 993 of them were going or coming from a clinical trial.

In the month of April 2010 there were 457 non-veteran patients flown.  The monthly numbers have grown about 50% in the last year.

While the numbers talk, the words of a patient named Beverly from South Carolina give the facts a human face:

“My doctors [at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston] have reported that my tumor was dead and I am now completely cancer free! It’s good to know that we can turn to you if this need arises again. Your services have been an answer to prayer.”

May we always remain faithful to our mission and worthy of the generous donatons that enable us by God’s grace to be the answer to those prayers.

From businesses to universities to nonprofit organizations like Mercy Medical Airlift, responsible leaders keep ears wide open to their stakeholders and want to know the answer to an all-important question, “How are we doing?”

MMA CEO and President Ed Boyer recently sent out a customer satisfaction survey to 500 clients and received responses from 79. The survey “represents our first organized, structured effort to obtain performance evaluation information and statistics,” he said.

The pie chart pictured here shows that the overwhelming number of respondents indicated they have “complete” confidence in MMA’s delivery of services. Other graphic analyses from the survey reveal similarly high marks in such fields as “Communicating clearly,” “Keeping you informed,” and “Responding promptly.”

Boyer said he is very pleased with the results and plans to expand the effort into the other programs.

An Irish proverb says, “It is in the shelter of each other that people live.” These words poignantly convey the notion that many hands serving together for a common cause can do a great deal of good. All the programs at Mercy Medical Airlift rely on compassionate partners to aid in our service to patients.

Two such partners are the ladies of Project Linus and Myrtle Taylor.

The Charles County, Maryland, chapter of the national organization known as Project Linus, has been making blankets for Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic since 2004 so that children traveling on the small, private planes flown by volunteer pilots can have soft, warm blankets to wrap up in when the upper air gets cold.

Another “blanketeer” is Myrtle Taylor of La Plata, Maryland. After learning about Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic, the 89-year-old retired professional seamstress began sewing gift packs for child patients. Included in each ziplock bag is a hat, blanket, small pillow, and a stuffed fabric cat, all matched to be gender specific.

We are “sew” very grateful to these talented women who use their time and skill to help the smallest and most vulnerable members of the human family.

Mercy Medical Airlift administers the Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic program.

Hats off to Phillips 66® Aviation! As of June 1, a first-of-its kind rebate program will be available to support volunteer pilots who use their own aircraft to fly patients to specialized treatment.

With fuel costs rising (a quick check shows that Landmark Aviation, for example, in Norfolk, Virginia, charges $5.45 for full service), this is heartening news and sends a message to the public that Corporate America cares.

The giant fuel company chose Mercy Medical Airlift, which runs the Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic program, and Angel Flight Northeast to receive a special credit card for pilots to use at Phillips 66 Aviation-branded FBOs (fixed base operator; i.e., the business where fuel and other services are available for general aviation, usually located at or near an airport). The pilots will receive a $1-per-gallon rebate on av fuel.

Steve Craven, an Angel Flight pilot and chairman of the board, explains the positive impact of the discount. When flying a mission, he says he burns an average of 17 gallons per hour. At $5.45 per gallon, a 4 ½ hour flight would cost him about $417. “I think the compassion flight rebate is great,” he said. “If I can save $80, it’s a big deal.”

Rod Palmer is the manager of aviation for Phillips 66. He says that through this program, “Phillips 66 Aviation is saying to these volunteer pilots, ‘we recognize your value, we appreciate your efforts, and we support you.”

He went on to say, “If it encourages more pilots to volunteer or take more medical flights, then we’ll consider this program a success.”

The pilots who fly for Angel Flight are exceptional in every way—passionate flyers, passionate humanitarians. It’s always rewarding to see them at the annual banquet in Virginia Beach. Last Saturday’s Gathering of Eagles was a heartwarming celebration of their service.

I wish I could tell you about each pilot, but there is neither space nor time to do so. Since I’ve gotten to know him through the years, let me mention Cleveland Benedict, who has come to the banquet with his wife, Ann, in past years as well as this. Cleve is a dairy farmer from West Virginia. He and Ann are very active in community affairs in their charming mountain town of Lewisburg. Their son, Pinckney, is a famous fiction writer.

With his shock of white hair and kind smile, Cleve commands attention.  His character is even more impressive, for this former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Commissioner of Agriculture rents the aircraft he uses to fly patients to distant, specialized treatment.

Cleve is West Virginia’s Pilot of the Year, an award he has won for five consecutive years. In 2009, he flew 31 patient missions. We salute Cleve and all our other Angel Flight heroes. Visit www.AngelFlightMidAtlantic.org.

The Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic program is administered by Mercy Medical Airlift.

I have a hunch that good deeds done behind the scenes have the greatest impact. Maybe it’s because all the energy goes into the cause, with none siphoned off for self-promotion. Ego-free compassion, as someone called it.

This kind of behind-the-scenes work goes on day after day and even through the night as part of a little-known Mercy Medical Airlift program begun in 1989 called the National Patient Travel Center. Every month, two resource specialists—one full-time, the other part-time, answer an average of 1,100 calls from within the United States primarily, but also throughout the world.

Eighty percent of the callers are patients. They suffer from cancer, burns, injuries of every sort, physical deformities, and rare diseases. Other callers are parents and grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, friends, veterans, doctors, and case workers. All are desperate to get somewhere—to a hospital or back home or to the bedside of a loved one. Or, they are seeking answers for someone in their care.

When a call comes in, the staff member gathers information and combs through a comprehensive resource book to find the appropriate travel option. It might be Angel Flight or a commercial airline program. It might be Air Compassion America or the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Sometimes, a patient needs lodging while undergoing treatment far from home. Joe’s House and the Ronald McDonald Houses are good options.

After business hours, trained staff members rotate pager duty to take urgent calls. This means the helpline—800-296-1217— is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

A red light on my phone shows me the line is in use right now. But that’s not unusual. It stays on most of the day, a gateway of hope for the hurting in an office a few doors down from mine.

Q. What’s as American as apple pie?
A.  Angel Flight pilots.

Volunteerism is one of the nation’s most celebrated virtues, and the 703 Angel Flight pilots serving in nine Mid-Atlantic states are shining examples of service.

Next Saturday (April 17), we’re holding a banquet in their honor at the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel. “A Gathering of Eagles” is an annual event designed to recognize the sacrifice made by these pilots, who use their own aircraft to fly patients in need to distant, specialized medical treatment.

The flights are free to the patients but costly to the pilots.

Pilots pay to rent or own the airplane. They pay for fuel, maintenance and repair, landing fees and all costs associated with the flights.

They come from all walks of life—business owners, doctors, retired military service members, farmers—and they are male and female, young and old. All are highly trained, licensed, insured, and held to stringent safety standards. They say things like, “Angel Flight changed my life.” “I got hooked.” “I want to give back to my community.”
“It’s God’s work.”

Each year, a pilot is chosen from his or her state as Pilot of the Year. One pilot earns the coveted Mid-Atlantic Pilot of the Year award.

Hearty congratulations to the top volunteer pilots for 2009. Great Americans, all.

Pennyslvania – Dan DeDona
Maryland – Don Benedict
Virginia – John Billings
West Virginia – Cleve Benedict
Washington, DC – Jeremiah Wolsk
Tennessee – Dave Pride
Kentucky – Tony Schmidt
Ohio – Charlie Poll
Delaware – Brett Lunger
Michigan – Ken Grakauskas
North Carolina – Kenny Hardin

Mid-Atlantic Pilot of the Year – Kenny Hardin

Visit www.AngelFlightMidAtlantic.org to learn more about the program or to request assistance. While you’re there, you can view a couple of video clips, including a segment with Katie Couric, that show the pilots on actual missions. Check out our Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic Facebook page, too, and become a fan of the charity with the motto, “The shortest distance between home and hope.”

 The Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic program is administered by Mercy Medical Airlift.