Freedom Flight Holding Online Fundraiser

(KNSI) – A St. Cloud area veterans group dedicated to bringing every missing military member home is holding an online fundraiser. Freedom Flight, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that gives rides in hot air balloons to raise awareness about missing in action soldiers and prisoners of war.

Freedom Flight is selling gun raffle tickets for $10 each and holding an online auction to raise money to attend the Albuquerque Balloon Festival. The raffle and auction go until April 2nd.

It’s the 50th anniversary of the Albuquerque show, and the organizations will be headed to the event for the first time. Freedom Flight volunteer John Pearson says they can’t do it without community support.

“We are 100% sponsored. We are all volunteers. There’s nobody paid in our organization and we’re taking all four balloons in our inventory, and our whole crew is going down there to help celebrate that.”

The festival is considered the largest international hot air balloon event globally, with 750 to 800 balloons. Pearson says the festival is the perfect spot to spread its message.

“We have our big one, which is 95 feet tall, and it’s absolutely amazing. The letters protrude out from the balloon itself when it fills up. It sends our message out there every time we go up. We don’t want anybody ever to forget that there are prisoners of war and missing in action.”

Their goal is to raise $33,000. Freedom Flight has been in 42 states and six countries, raising awareness about missing military members. Freedom Flight’s Jerry Lang says they even have a unique basket to take wounded veterans from across the country on rides.

“We have a handicapped one where we can open the door, and we can take a paraplegic veteran and put them in the chair with a seatbelt and fly him.”

Freedom Flight typically attends 50 to 60 events a year. For more information on organizations and a link to the auction and raffle, click here.

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