FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18, 2020
March 18, 2020
UPDATE: SPRING MIDWEST HONOR FLIGHT MISSIONS POSTPONED
Midwest Honor Flight Missions in May and June are now postponed
REGIONAL: On March 17, 2020, Midwest Honor Flight’s Board of Directors made the difficult decision to postpone our 2020 May and June scheduled flights out of caution for our Veterans, Guardians, and Crew. This heartbreaking decision was not made lightly as many hours of planning have taken place to make these flights possible. This change comes after the National Honor Flight Network announced on March 11, 2020 that they required all Honor Flights to be suspended through April 30. In addition to that, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) have both stated that adults over the age of 60 are particularly at risk of infection and should avoid all non-essential air travel. The vast majority of our Veterans fall into this high-risk category. The CDC has also issued a recommendation to suspend gatherings of more than 50 people for the next 8 weeks which our required training dates for Guardians fall into.
This decision has an immediate impact on our Missions on May 30 (Lyon County Riverboat Foundation Mission 7) and June 2 (Clifford & LaVonne Graese Foundation Mission 8). Those that have been confirmed on each of these flights will not lose their spot and will be contacted soon with additional information. We will also be releasing details of when these flights are rescheduled for this fall as soon as contracts with American Airlines, the Sioux Falls Sheraton, and the Sioux Falls Convention Center are finalized. Flights scheduled for August 22 and September 19 are still on as planned.
“Our first priority on every Midwest Honor Flight Mission is the safety of our Veterans, our guardians, and our crew,” says Aaron Van Beek, the President of Midwest Honor Flight. “The age of those we honor on each trip falls into the recommended restricted travel age group and with the current recommendations, we could not risk the 200 Veterans that would have been on these spring flights. Every effort is being made by our 100% volunteer organization to reschedule these two flights to still be able to fly more than 400 Veterans this year. We appreciate everyone’s continued support and patience as we work through these challenging times and look forward to seeing everyone again at upcoming events and Missions in the future.”
If you were scheduled to fly with us this spring, we know you have questions. We will be sharing more information to all Veterans and Guardians that were confirmed on these flights as soon as we are able to.
Aaron Van Beek, Midwest Honor Flight President
(605) 215-1319
info@midwesthonorflight.org
This decision has an immediate impact on our Missions on May 30 (Lyon County Riverboat Foundation Mission 7) and June 2 (Clifford & LaVonne Graese Foundation Mission 8). Those that have been confirmed on each of these flights will not lose their spot and will be contacted soon with additional information. We will also be releasing details of when these flights are rescheduled for this fall as soon as contracts with American Airlines, the Sioux Falls Sheraton, and the Sioux Falls Convention Center are finalized. Flights scheduled for August 22 and September 19 are still on as planned.
“Our first priority on every Midwest Honor Flight Mission is the safety of our Veterans, our guardians, and our crew,” says Aaron Van Beek, the President of Midwest Honor Flight. “The age of those we honor on each trip falls into the recommended restricted travel age group and with the current recommendations, we could not risk the 200 Veterans that would have been on these spring flights. Every effort is being made by our 100% volunteer organization to reschedule these two flights to still be able to fly more than 400 Veterans this year. We appreciate everyone’s continued support and patience as we work through these challenging times and look forward to seeing everyone again at upcoming events and Missions in the future.”
If you were scheduled to fly with us this spring, we know you have questions. We will be sharing more information to all Veterans and Guardians that were confirmed on these flights as soon as we are able to.
Aaron Van Beek, Midwest Honor Flight President
(605) 215-1319
info@midwesthonorflight.org
