Oklahoma Warriors Honor Flight gets huge donation from Honor Flight Central Florida Hub

TULSA — Since 2005, nearly a quarter million veterans have flown to Washington, D.C. to visit the war memorials and other monuments erected to honor them, and those they served alongside.

In fact, the organization says it will surpass that milestone this year, and Tuesday more than 90 vets will board a plane in Tulsa to make that memorable journey.

In advance of that trip, a visitor from the Honor Flight Central Florida visited a board meeting Thursday to surprise the Oklahoma group with a donation of $40,000.

KRMG speaks with Vic Wheeler and Karyn Rinaldi about Thursday’s donation

Karyn Rinaldi, Program Director for HFCF, told KRMG the money came from an anonymous donor, who bought a 1956 Chevy at auction, then auctioned it off again to raise money for their organization.

They donated to three groups: One in Arizona, to acknowledge the original owner of that Chevy; one in Florida that’s just trying to get started, and the third check went to the Oklahoma group.

Turns out that anonymous donor comes from Oklahoma.

Honor Flight prides itself on spending 98 cents of every dollar raised on fulfilling its mission - providing those free trips to veterans.

They currently serve vets of WWII, Korea and Vietnam, with some vets from other deployments who got special consideration because of injury or other medical issues.

The vets do not pay a penny, and all the volunteers are unpaid.

In the entire organization, Rinaldi told KRMG, only two people receive any money.

There are “147 hubs around the country,” she said, “and there are two people (who get paid). The national chair gets a stipend, a small stipend, and the lawyer.”

Vic Wheeler, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Oklahoma Warriors Honor Flight, tells KRMG that donation is absolutely huge for them.

A single flight, he says, costs about $120,000.

“You don’t get contributions like that,” Wheeler said. “I got choked up... I know we have a backlog, like I said, of 400 veterans, and we’re adding more every day. And we want to get them to D.C. And so, it’s just opportunity for us, to really serve our mission - which is to get these guys and gals the appreciation and the respect they deserve.”

KRMG will be riding along for this April 12th trip to D.C. and will have comprehensive coverage of the journey on air and online.

You can learn more about our Honor Flight initiative, and how to donate, HERE.

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