Chairman’s Corner
Happy Fall, Y’all!
As we go into the fourth season of 2018 we are deep into the preparation work for our 28TH flight. We hope all of you will come join us the evening of October 20th at Plainfield High School to welcome home our newest group of Indy Honor Flight Alumni. Let’s fill the gym and let them know how much they are loved and appreciated; you know you want to be there and “stand on the curb”! Especially since we have found a whole group of “new” WWII and Korea Veterans since the May flight! It is pretty cool to be calling heroes in their late 80’s and 90’s “new”. The “kids” from Vietnam are showing up too, it looks like we will have over 1,000 Veterans on our waiting list by the first of 2019.
Speaking of waiting lists, as many of you have heard, our friends in Lafayette are closing up shop for the Honor Flight of Greater Lafayette after their October 16th flight. This will be their 22nd flight and we wish them the very best; they have been terrific partners with us over the years. We anticipate assuming their remaining Veteran applications for upcoming flights. We still have many details to work out, but this will expand our area of operation quite a bit. If you live to the northwest, we may have some new opportunities for you! We will let everyone know more about this as we move forward.
Indy Honor Flight has been blessed with several groups taking on fundraisers for us recently and we truly appreciate the hard work of these dedicated folks. Most of the groups we work with have contact with us from either a family member flying with us or a volunteer they know who talks about the Honor Flight experience. If you know of a civic organization, workplace or other group who might want to learn more about what we do, please put them in touch with us. We are thrilled to be able to go out and talk to groups, entities and individuals about who we are and what we do. Not only to do fundraising, but to find more Veterans who are not aware of our mission.
No one likes to talk about money when we could be talking about our Hoosier Heroes! We know all the charities have their hand out, especially as we approach the final quarter of the year. What we also know is the cost of our flights continues to increase from year to year and our fundraising has to keep up if we are to stay in the business of flying heroes. We recently got our price quote for 2019 and we will be paying over $10,000 more per flight. We are thankful for every dollar that comes our way and with a completely unpaid volunteer staff, every dollar goes right where it is supposed to! We hope you, your business partners, civic, church and school groups will consider Indy Honor Flight as a project to support.
Please support all of our fundraising efforts and share the events with family, friends and coworkers. We put all of our events on our Face Book page for easy access. If you have any questions you can contact us through the information at the bottom of the newsletter.
Our fantastic volunteers continue to amaze us with their hard work and dedication. If you have not volunteered, you may want to consider being a part of this elite group of selfless individuals. These are the folks that make the magic happen at all of our events. Everyone who attended the 2018 Reunion on August 26th got to see them in action. What a great opportunity for our Veterans to visit with each other again, thanks to all who made it possible. We posted some photos of the day on our Flikr page, you can access it from our website “Photo” page, just click on the “All Indy Honor Flight Photos” link. Or just click Here
We wish you a fantastic time adjusting to the cooler weather. Remember to thank a Veteran today for your freedom; every one of them worked to help you have it!
In service,
Dale True, Indy Honor Flight Chairman
Let’s Eat!
Veterans did you know we sponsor meals in four locations around the Central Indy area for any Veteran that has flown with us? Did you know that we also have guest speakers or entertainment at each meal? Click the link below and find the one closest to you and come out and break bread with us! Bring your Guardian too !
Link to IHF Monthly Meal Information
MAIL CALL!!!!!!
Part of the plan for every flight is the collection of Mail Call, so if you will be kind enough to gather all of your writing partners and send us a bunch of great letters, cards and drawings we will be sure to get them delivered to the heroes on IHF Flight 28! This is a very special part of the flight, so please help us make it happen!
Please address to Any Veteran, please do not date the letter or card, please express your gratitude and appreciation! All mail call is due to IHF by October 12th. If you know a Veteran on the flight please put their name on the envelope.
You can send those to:
Indy Honor Flight
PO Box 10
Plainfield IN 46168
Shop Amazon and help IHF!
Only 86 days until Christmas! If you like to get your Christmas shopping done early why not help Indy Honor Flight out at the same time? Shop at Amazon and they will donate a portion of your purchase to us! Sign up for Amazon Smile and select IHF as the charity you support, that is all there is to it!
FUNDRAISER – October 6th Hops and Vines Lucas Oil Raceway
This is an awesome event hosted by our friends with the Brownsburg Rotary Club and Dawson’s Too! The event is held at the Top Eliminator Club Pavilion at Lucas Oil Raceway. There will be wine and beer tasting, hors d’oeuvres, silent auction and a chance to visit with terrific people who support our mission. Please help spread the word to family, friends and co-workers-we want a standing-room only crowd! Tickets are available now and also will be available at the door; $65. To purchase tickets in advance please click Here
FUNDRAISER – Charity Bull Riding Contest – October 6th
We need folks to buy tickets and attend this benefit! We have a young lady who will be riding the bull for IHF! WYRZ is hosting this as a benefit for Hendricks County Non-profits!! Tickets are $20 can be bought by clicking Here
FUNDRAISER – Knights of Columbus Chili Cook Off! October 28th
3rd Annual Chili Cook Off to benefit Indy Honor Flight! This is always a fun event! Come out for some fellowship and some awesome Chili! Veterans and Kids 8 and under eat for FREE! Everyone else is $10. $200 Grand Prize for Chili Contest. Contact Gloria at 317-695-2020 or at gloria@northsidekofc.org by 10/20/18 to enter the chli contest. See you there !0/28/18, program starts at noon.
Free Show – Musical Tribute to Honor our Veterans by Lasting Impressions
Come out to Mile Race Center in Columbus IN on November 9th at 2:00pm for a tribute to honor our Veterans. Show is FREE to all Veterans.
Free Show – Musical Tribute to Honor our Veterans by Lasting Impressions
Come out to North Vernons Park Theatre Civic Center on November 11th for a FREE show! Show starts at 3:00PM. Donations for Indy Honor Flight will be accepted.
IHF Out and About
- Saturday October 6th Hops and Vines Fundraiser, Lucas Oil Raceway
- Saturday October 6th Charity Bull riding event
- Saturday October 20th – IHF #28 Homecoming Plainfield High School
- GROUND CREW THE SIGN UP FOR THE FLIGHT IS OUT!
- CHECK YOUR EMAIL!!!!!
- October 28th Knights of Columbus Chili Cook off
- Friday 11/9 Musical Tribute to Honor our Veterans Columbus IN
- Sunday 11/11 Musical Tribute to Honor our Veterans North Vernon IN
- Saturday November 10th Veterans Day Parade Downtown Indianapolis, IN
- GROUND CREW LOOK FOR THE SIGN UP FOR THIS SOON!
- Ganassi Racing Open House Fundraiser November 17th – More info to follow!