Wings of Hope featured on Sacred Heart Program

A unique airborne charity that delivers food and medical aid to remote corners of the world is the subject of the weekly radio program “Lift Your Heart” on Sunday, Sept. 19. A production of Sacred Heart Program, Inc., the documentary focuses on the growth and good works of the humanitarian air service, Wings of Hope.

Founded in St. Louis 20 years ago, the worldwide organization developed from a project to aid a medical mission in Kenya. Hyenas had eaten through the fabric shell of a small plane used by the Medical Missionaries of Mary in their ministry to famine-stricken desert nomads. In St. Louis, a group of aviation-oriented businessmen raised funds for a replacement metal aircraft. After meeting the need of the Kenyan mission, the group established Wings of Hope to provide air transportation to missionaries and field medical personnel in other isolated communities. Today, more than 40 aircraft serve established charities in remote outposts on four continents.

A string of volunteer pilots keeps the fleet airborne. From the backwaters of the Amazon to the Alaskan bush, these dedicated men and women fly supplies and field workers in and out of areas where land travel is restricted by dense jungle, rough terrain or flooding rivers. The pilots perform medical evacuations, deliver food to famine victims and transport displaced villagers to new homesites. A former Navy pilot interviewed on the program calls his mission field experience “the acme of achievement in my life.”

This moving documentary is scheduled for broadcast on 750 stations by Sacred Heart Program, Inc. It will air in Wichita on Sunday, Sept. 19 at 10 p.m. on KFDI. The program will also be carried on KGGF, Coffeyville at 5:15 a.m.; KGC5, Derby, at 9:30 a.m. and KLKC, Parsons, at 11:45 a.m.