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Urgent Call for Veteran Applications to fly with Central Missouri Honor Flight: Application Deadline Approaches
Now is the time for veterans interested in flying with Central Missouri Honor Flight (CMHF) to submit applications. The board of directors for CMHF wants all Missouri Vietnam, Korean War, and WWII veterans to have the opportunity to fly to our nation’s capital on future honor flights. If you have wanted to go but have been waiting for others to fly before you, please know that veteran applications to fly with CMHF will be accepted only through Sept. 1, 2024.
Honor flights provide a day of gratitude, celebration, and healing for all deserving veterans. While hero veterans from all over Missouri gather in Columbia for their special day, the board of directors understands that too many veterans have not yet flown. The board of directors’ emphasis is on compelling veterans who have not yet applied to do so now because a finite number of honor flights will be scheduled with CMHF.
With a deadline of Sept. 1, it is vitally important to take this opportunity now to send in applications so that veterans can be placed on upcoming honor flights. Applications received after Sept. 1, will be returned to the sender with a list of other Missouri Honor Flight chapters that may accommodate the application.
“This has been an incredibly challenging decision for our Board of Directors,” says Mary Paulsell, CMHF president. “It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to make these life-changing flights available to our Missouri veterans. Through the generosity and support of central Missouri, we have been able to operate this ALL-volunteer organization for 15 years without any overhead. Central Missouri Honor Flight to date has flown more than 5,500 veterans to visit our nation’s capital to reflect at their memorials. That is simply a remarkable achievement.”
CMHF will be contacting veterans who have already submitted applications and those whose applications are postmarked by Sept. 1 to participate in our scheduled 2024 flights. Applications can be downloaded at www.centralmissourihonorflight.com.
We are no longer accepting Guardian and or Volunteer applications. We thank you for your interest.
First flight in 2024 has been booked!
FLIGHT #62 – POSTPONED
We have postponed indefinitely Flight #62 scheduled for September 7 due to increases in COVID cases and the advent of the Delta Variant that is much stronger and demonstrating significant evidence of its ability to penetrate through present vaccines. We have been in consultation with our medical director who is working in the COVID unit in the VA Hospital in Orlando and he, in turn, has been in contact with several other physicians here in Columbia at Truman VA and the University Hospital, several of which have been on our flights. They all agree that this is the appropriate action.
COVID-19 – FLIGHTS ON HOLD
All honor flights across the country have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is our hope that we will be able to fly later this year however, CMHF postponed flights have not been rescheduled. When we start scheduling flights, we will post the information here.
A Pretty Good Return on Investment!
We’re often asked if someone can bring something by our office. That always elicits a chuckle from us. For most of us, our Honor Flight office is either an extra bedroom in our homes, our dining room table or, in some cases, our car. And we’re all perfectly fine with that, because any money spent to rent an office could and SHOULD be used for flying veterans to Washington. Likewise salaries. We are often asked how much of our budget goes to salaries and benefits. That’s worth yet another smile. We are all volunteers. Many of us involved in Honor Flight spend 40-50 hours a week on the organization on top of full-time jobs and family obligations. We use our vacation time from work to go on flights and assist with other events. But we would not have it any other way. For us, it is a labor of love, respect and gratitude. It is absolutely counter to our values as an organization to pay anyone to enjoy the amazing blessing we have been given to celebrate the service of our magnificent veterans. We are paid far more than any amount of money is worth for the privilege of knowing, escorting and thanking these great Americans.
The point is Central Missouri Honor Flight is one lean, mean machine. Most volunteers pay for the supplies related to their volunteer responsibilities themselves in order to save every possible dollar for the flights. We look for donations of bottled water and food for the flights wherever we can. Guardians pay their trip expenses, and we do as much fundraising (along with our amazing community partners) as our schedules permit (and we don’t pay anyone to do it.)
When you donate to an organization, you want to know that your money does indeed go to deliver the service and not for any unnecessary or inflated overhead expenses or glossy brochures. When you give to Honor Flight, you can rest assured that is the case. Actually, you are doing much more than paying for airline tickets, bus transportation or box lunches. What you are paying for is pride in our veterans’ service, smiles on their faces, relief after many years of regrets and tranquil nights free of nightmares and grief. You are supporting life-changing experiences, and you are replacing bad memories with good ones. You are investing in a veteran’s freedom, as they invested in ours so many years ago.
More than 500 veterans await their once-in-a-lifetime trip. We thank you for investing in Central Missouri Honor Flight’s mission, and we look forward to working with you to change lives in 2018!
Handle With Care
Recently we were overwhelmed when one of our “alumni” whom we were honored to take on his Honor Flight Mission early in 2016 told us, “Thank you for what was absolutely the best day of my life. It changed everything for me. I had no idea it would have that kind of impact. But it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Now, when I have trouble sleeping because of memories of the war, which I seldom do anymore thanks to that trip, I just pull out my scrapbook of photos from the flight, and before long, I’m asleep again with a smile on my face.” This is something that anyone who served will understand. For so many veterans, their military service for a life-defining experience and they have lived with its impact for so, so many years – good and bad. Through the generosity of central Missouri, we have been able to offer nearly 3,000 veterans what they tell us is another life-defining moment. It’s impossible to accurately estimate the changes that have occurred in our veterans, in their families and in their communities. So, to central Missouri, we say “Thank you!” To our veterans, we say, “Thank you for trusting us with your safety, with your care and with your hearts. We will always do our best to ‘Handle with care.’” After all, that is what you did with our future. And we can never thank you enough.
Veteran’s Day 2016 Message
On this Veteran’s Day, we ask that everyone take time to reflect on the sacrifices that our veterans have made on our behalf for over 200 years. If you have children, find time to visit with them about the significance of this day and how they can show their respect to our veterans on Veteran’s Day and everyday.
Thank you for being “the Wind Beneath Our Wings.”
As he came down the Walk of Honor into the Courtyard Hotel after his Honor Flight last Tuesday, April 19, the Vietnam veteran paused midway, overcome with emotion and tears. Then he looked up, surveyed the crowd cheering to welcome him home, and in a voice full of joy, said, “Thank you for remembering!”
On the flight last Tuesday where veterans of WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War – three generations, bound by selflessness and service, sharing stories across the decades of what it was like to leave home, go to a faraway land and take on the burden to save our liberty and preserve our freedom. Early morning apprehension turned to excitement. Fear of the unknown turned to comfort that one finds among friends. The long day turned into one they wished would last forever. Is there ever enough time to thank them, celebrate them and, yes, remember them? We hear that this one day – this 22 hours spent with Honor Flight – changes lives, banishes nightmares and replaces bad memories with good. That is our hope, our prayer, our mission.
Central Missouri has made these miracles possible. In this, our eighth year in the air, we find that the generosity of mid-Missouri knows no bounds. To the little second grader who donated his $.25 of tooth fairy money to the generous gifts from business and foundations – it all keeps us flying. We have nearly 600 veterans waiting for their Honor Flight experience. So we are working as hard as we can to ensure they receive their day of celebration and gratitude.
Thank you for being “the Wind Beneath Our Wings.”
CMHF receives thousands from fundraiser’s
A cookbook filled with recipes from local veterans raised more than $24,000 for Central MO Honor Flight.
It’s a non-profit organization that flies World War II, Korean and Vietnam War veterans to Washington D.C. to visit and reflect at their memorials.
The money raised from the fundraiser was presented to the Central MO Honor Flight board members at the Columbia Courtyard Marriott Sunday afternoon.
Mary Paulsell, Central MO Honor Flight President, said the money will allow 78 veterans participate in the next honor flight to Washington D.C.
“It’s all due to the generosity of central Missouri, and the commitment, and the appreciation they feel toward our veterans,” she said. “They made it all possible.”
Since the non-profit started in 2009, more than $3 million dollars has been raised to send 2,100 veterans to Washington D.C.