Hope Above the Clouds: The Legacy of Angel Flight Central

In 1995, Kansas City pilot Jim Stevens was searching for purpose. Having retired early for health reasons, he was grounded quite literally and figuratively when his wife’s United Methodist bishop asked what he planned to do next. The question stirred something in him.

Jim had recently read about a pilot who used his private plane to help people reach medical care they couldn’t otherwise access. The bishop loved the simple idea and offered to give him $3,000 in seed money from the church. Jim called up some pilot friends, and they set a goal to find people who may be in need of far-off medical care. They thought if they could fly 12 flights in the first year, it would be an amazing success.

Jim being a cancer survivor himself knew firsthand the stress of seeking treatment and couldn’t imagine if he hadn’t had the means to travel and reach the care he needed when he was sick. They launched what was first called Wings Over Mid-America with nothing but gusto and a few hardworking and compassionate volunteers willing to fly and provide screening and flight coordination support on the ground. They learned the need was great. They far surpassed their goal of 12 flights in that first year by flying 12 flights in the first month!

That spark became the foundation for what is now Angel Flight Central (AFC), and the phone continues to ring every day at its headquarters at the Downtown Kansas City Airport (MKC). Angel Flight Central now operates within a network of charitable aviation non-profits that cover every state within the United States. Angel Flight Central works with patients who are originating from ten Midwest states: Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. Since Jim’s first flight, Angel Flight Central has flown over 52,000 free flights for children and adults needing far-away, non-emergency medical care. Over 17 million nautical miles have been flown—the equivalent of flying around the world about 683 times. The organization has grown from a few volunteer pilots to over 330 active volunteer pilots within the ten states. They operate with a full-time staff of five who manage the day-to-day operations of screening passengers, routing flights, and matching them with volunteer pilots. Angel Flight Central continues to remain a grass-roots organization with volunteer pilots donating their time, aircraft (rented or owned) and any fuel associated with the flight. Just last year, their volunteer pilots donated the equivalent of over $2.3 million in free flight services. The ripple effects of this can be felt across decades, as is the case with Jessica Ressel, one of Jim’s first patient/passengers.

In March 1996, then eleven-year-old Jessica Ressel from Springfield, Missouri, was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive brain-stem tumor known as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). Her family found treatment in Houston that offered a glimmer of hope, but the road to get there was steep. Monthly travel, mounting medical bills, and time away from work made the burden nearly impossible to carry. That’s when Jim Stevens and his newly formed network of volunteer pilots stepped in.

For two years, Angel Flight Central pilots flew Jessica and her family to Houston, never charging a dime. Jessica wasn’t expected to survive. The medications and trips were a last-chance experimental opportunity her parents, family, and community hoped would work. Every time they called, there were met with an enthusiastic “Yes!” from the compassionate flight coordinators on the other end of the line. Jessica’s story soon became one of Angel Flight Central’s first and most defining missions. She was featured in AFC’s second-ever “Wingspan” newsletter, her smiling photo capturing the spirit of compassion, connection, and courage that continue to guide the organization to this day.

Nearly thirty years later, Jessica’s story and the vision of founder Jim Stevens continue to shape every mission that takes off. What began as a handful of pilots eager to share their passion with those in need, is now responsible for providing over 2,500 free flights for people in need in the Midwest every year. Jessica did survive! Her tumor shrank and thirty years later, she is healthy, happy, has two beautiful children and a family who could not be more grateful for the support they received during that difficult time.

Jessica’s story is not unique to the ears of flight coordinators at Angel Flight Central. Every day the phone rings and on the other end is a patient, caregiver, doctor, or social worker reaching out for a glimmer of hope. More than 90% of flights help children and adults reach medical care for chemotherapy, radiation, pre- and post-operative transplant procedures, second opinions, clinical trials, and to reach rare-disease specialists while removing the financial burden that travel can bring. Angel Flight Central will consider any compassionate reason to fly and any problem that might be solved between two runways. The other 10% are flights of compassion—delivering breast milk from depots to rural neonatal intensive care units, helping children and adults at the end of life experience flight, relocating domestic violence victims, transporting service puppies to training facilities (and back to their veteran, first responder or visually impaired new owner). They also assist in times of national disaster such as the recent flooding in North Carolina or historically, in Hurricane Katrina.

The process to request a flight is simple—a ten-minute online flight request that anyone can complete on behalf of a patient in need. From there, Angel Flight Central’s team carefully reviews each request to ensure the passenger has a medical need for free air transportation, is medically stable and able to get in and out of a general aviation aircraft. But it wasn’t always this smooth and seamless. In 1995, volunteer coordinators would screen, record, and call pilots to arrange flights. Everything was recorded in a big binder and sent every week via overnight FedEx to a different volunteer flight coordinator who would man the on-call pager 24/7.

Now, with charitable aviation’s proprietary software system, the mission is posted to an online portal where volunteer pilots can browse and accept flights that match their aircraft type, range, and availability. Although many things with charitable aviation have been made easier with technology, the biggest struggle continues to be outreach. Because the resource is not finite and volunteer pilots will fly as many times as needed, there exists the wonderful advantage of a non-profit with capacity to help more people in need. They just don’t know about it.

Angel Flight Central needs help spreading the word. People who may be newly confronted with a life-changing medical diagnosis, need to be made aware that the organization is there to make their journey easier. There is no income requirement as Angel Flight Central considers a medical need to be a financial need. There is no limit to how many times a passenger can use the services from a single flight to 100. The organization has also grown partnerships with commercial airlines when flights are too great a distance for its volunteer pilots to fly. Southwest Airlines graciously and generously donates thousands of free tickets to children, adults and their caregivers to medical appointments. Currently, Angel Flight Central does not accept federal or state dollars. Funding is provided through private donors, corporate sponsors, and 70% of its annual operating budget is generated each year through its largest annual event—Wine Flight.

For the past 20 years, Wine Flight has served as AFC’s largest annual fundraiser, and just like Jim’s vision for the organization, it grew purely out of a few wonderful people who saw an opportunity. Doug Frost, one of only four people in the world to simultaneously hold both Master of Wine and Master Sommelier titles, created The Jefferson Cup Invitational. It aimed to showcase that America wines can be fantastic too, and it grew to be a large annual wine competition. At the end of the competition, what remained were nearly full bottles of wines that had merely been tasted by the event’s judges. Matt Nevinger, who was operating as wine competition judge could not help but think that this wine could be put to good use. He proposed to his father, Tom Holcom, one of the first members of the board at Wings Over Mid America, perhaps they could charge people to taste the competition wines and donate the money to the organization. The event was born. What began as a creative way to repurpose wine, has turned into fueling the organization’s ability to focus staff time on outreach, partnerships, and connecting with new passengers in need. To date, Wine Flight has netted more than $3.3 million to keep providing free flights for people in need.

Angel Flight Central continues to demonstrate how to be adaptive and the compassionate people behind the mission are always ready to roll up their sleeves to give. When The Jefferson Cup Wine Invitational ended, wineries and private wine collectors around the country stepped up to continue to support the mission. In 2025, more than 600 full bottles of wine were donated to the event for guests to enjoy. And the wine competition judges continue to attend, volunteering their time to provide the tasting experience to guests. The first Wine Flight had around 100 attendees that is now a crowd of 900! The mission continues to fly.

This year’s Wine Flight event was especially meaningful, featuring Jim Stevens and Jessica Ressel as guests of honor highlighting a beautiful full-circle moment nearly three decades in the making. Together, they represent both the heart and the history of Angel Flight Central—the dream that started it all, and the young girl whose journey helped define its purpose. The mission has impacted not only Jessica and her parents but has also influenced her older son who wants to become a pilot.

Guests had the privilege of watching a special video tribute highlighting Jim and Jessica’s story at Wine Flight this year. They invite you to enjoy the video here:

From a single idea and a $3,000 grant to thousands of flights of hope each year, Angel Flight Central continues to carry forward the same mission Jim envisioned nearly thirty years ago—to connect people through compassion and flight. Jessica’s journey and Jim’s courage remain part of their DNA, proof that kindness knows no limit. But they need your help. They need the community to be its eyes and ears to reach those who may be in need. Help them save patients long hours in the car—trading for more hours with family. As long as there are people in need of care beyond their reach, Angel Flight Central will be there answering the call.