Flight of the Eagle
A Salute to Our Native American Veterans
Flight of the Eagle, Inc. is a federally certified 501©3 nonprofit organization dedicated to outreach programs for the Native American Community. A principal focus of Flight of the Eagle is to honor Native American veterans and to raise awareness of their service and sacrifice. Flight of the Eagle also undertakes educational and service missions.
Calling Attention to Their Service
Plans are underway to erect a permanent memorial to our Native American veterans. This website will carry news as the plans are made and arrangements put in place. Opportunities are available to assist in this effort; let us know how you’d like to help, whether by financial donation or in-kind assistance through the e-mail address shown in the “Contact Us” below.Aid to Families on the Reservation
Since its inception, Flight of the Eagle has conducted numerous visits to a number of reservations to deliver Christmas gifts to reservation kids who might not otherwise have had much to celebrate. Even just a few ounces of candy per child lets them know that they are not forgotten and sends them the message that people beyond the reservation think that these children are worthwhile. That is a powerful and lasting message to send a child.With your help, we can do more. All of our programs are carried out and funded by volunteers and donors. None of Flight of the Eagle’s staff or Board of Directors receives compensation. As we raise additional funds, we envision expanding our services to include med-cap team visits, provision of classroom aids, pre-school childcare for working mothers, and elder care and other social services. Eventually, we would like to offer scholarships to deserving students who, because of shortcomings in their local educational systems, find it difficult to compete with more fortunate students for limited scholarship monies.
Why Should this be Done?
We are sometimes asked why, with all the aid programs available in America, we see the necessity for our organization. The truth is self-evident when one visits a reservation. Although there are a few fiscally solvent tribal communities, most suffer from poverty and all its attendant illnesses. Many reservations are in remote areas where opportunities for employment and education are woefully limited. Subsistence living is the norm. The culture of poverty, and all the problems that derive from it, is transmitted to generation after generation. The people living on these reservations have two choices: to stay within the bosom of their family, community, and culture, but with little or no opportunity, or to leave everyone and everything they know to pursue something that is far beyond their knowledge or imagination.Let’s face it. People cannot dream big dreams when they live in substandard housing, often without water or electricity, who have few opportunities for gainful employment, and who have little access to education, let alone libraries and the vast resources of the internet. It is simply not within their experience to dream of starting a business or being a scientist or dancing on Broadway or finding a cure for cancer. What a waste of human potential!
So why should we help? Because efforts address needs that are not being met by other programs. Because fellow Americans need our help. Because no matter how much or how little we have as individuals, there are people who have less. Because we can help change lives. And because, ever since World War I, Native Americans have served and died in greater numbers per capita than any other ethnic group in this country, and yet have seldom been recognized for their service. The history of this nation began with generous Native Americans feeding destitute settlers and teaching them how to survive in the new land they had settled. From this we get our holiday of Thanksgiving. We think it’s time to pay that generosity back.
Please make your tax-deductible donations to Flight of the Eagle, Inc. and contact us at the e-mail address on the “Contact Us” page for our mailing address. If you wish to dedicate your donations to a specific program, please let us know. General donations will be used wherever the need is greatest.