The Air Ambulance Charity, Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS), has launched an urgent call for £1mn in donations as helicopter becomes available to ‘Buy it for Life’.
The KSS Air Ambulance must raise £1mn by the end of May in order to buy its second helicopter, which to date has only been leased. The ‘Buy it for Life’ appeal was launched on 2 April 2024 and in two weeks has reached 30% of its target. If supporters can help KSS achieve its goal, this will mean more flying capacity, more money for other projects, and more lives saved.
KSS is an independent charity and is highly dependent on support from donations, which comprise around nearly 90% of its yearly income. Owning a second helicopter rather than continuing to lease would save around £0.5mn per year and, with ambitious plans for the next few years, these savings could be diverted to other projects. It would also allow the KSS team to meet their target for summer 2024 of increasing their flying time by six more hours every day. They currently operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and were the first Air Ambulance charity in the country to begin doing so back in 2013. Increasing their second vehicle’s flying time would allow their crew to reach more people who need them during that extra quarter of a day. However, there is only a small window of time for KSS to raise the remaining £1 million and buy it.
Response so far
The appeal has already received huge support from a loyal community of families whose lives have been touched by KSS, as well as many who appreciate the team’s hard work, despite luckily never having used their services. Heart warming messages accompany the numerous donations coming in on the website, many of them £100 or over, which qualifies donors to have their name (or that of a loved one) put on the helicopter. With only a limited amount of space for names, anyone interested in getting theirs on the helicopter is advised to act quickly.
The charity’s strong relationship with its community is reflected in chief executive David Welch’s response after the appeal’s successful first week: “We’ve all been particularly touched by the many kind messages we’ve received from people supporting the appeal, including some of our former patients and their families. We’re truly humbled and inspired by the generosity of everyone in our communities and so grateful to everyone who has donated so far to help us to save more lives and keep more families together.”
What else will this mean?
Keeping families together is part of the KSS mission. The charity’s five-year strategy outlines some meaningful plans to work towards achieving this, including healthcare improvements based on the team’s own continual research; an aftercare service for patients and their families; and exploring ways to prevent incidents in the community altogether. The savings made every year from switching to ownership of the helicopter now could help fund these projects, or may simply enable the charity to meet the increasing cost of fueling and flying its helicopters due to inflation.
A lot of work goes on at the KSS Air Ambulance and, however the organisation and community stand to benefit if the appeal is successful, one thing’s for sure: time is running out. For more information visit www.aakss.org.uk/helicopter/
