Angel Wings added to IBR December Power List

With all the blessings Angel Wings Network has experienced over the last year, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

 Executive Director Mabel Dobbs was nonetheless taken aback when she learned the nonprofit was named to the Idaho Business Review’s new Healthcare Power List for December 2022.

 The Boise-based monthly business publication recognizes leading businesses and service providers from across Idaho in what it has dubbed its Power Lists.

 The individuals and corresponding entities and organizations making the cut have proven themselves as, “true power players of Idaho,” helping to lead Idaho’s business community to greater prosperity and success.

 April 2022’s power list, for instance, focused on Idaho startups, while the August 2022 list tipped its hat to Idaho commercial real estate.December 2022 featured top leaders in Idaho Healthcare, which included Angel Wings for its work providing support and resources to cancer patients, survivors, caregivers, family, and loved ones who have been touched with cancer in rural communities.

 Dobbs was grateful for the recognition and cited her many volunteers and board members for the organization’s success.

 “To be included in the Power List for Idaho Business Review is pretty cool,” she told the Weiser Signal American last week. “Our organization has been blessed. There is nothing we could have done without the good Lord and a good team. We have so many wonderful volunteers and our board is amazing. I could not have asked for a better board.”

 Angel Wings offers a variety of support services but largely provides families with gas cards and transportation to and from appointments.

 Last year, the organization gave out $21,225 in fuel cards, with transport drivers traveling more than 22,000 miles and volunteers logging over 16,000 hours. 

 There have been key donations in the last year as well, including a 2012 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid with only 19,000 miles, which is being used as a transport vehicle.

 The community at large has donated thousands of dollars to Angel Wings in support of its services, with the annual Walk/Run and Auction bringing in approximately $24,000.

 In addition, $8,885 in grocery cards were given to cancer patients to help offset the rising cost of food, and $6,730 in restaurant meal cards were distributed. That’s just a glimpse of the many exciting developments and milestones reached in the last year.

 Dobbs and Angel Wings were featured among other December Power List leaders, including St. Alphonsus Health System, National Alliance on Mental Health Illness, St. Luke’s Health System, West Valley Medical Center, Saltzer Health, Beacon Cancer Care, Recovery Idaho, and Blue Cross of Idaho.

 “I get great satisfaction from being able to build a budget each year and then be able to raise those funds,” Dobbs told the Idaho Business Review. “I do not know of any other nonprofit organization in Idaho doing what we do. I love what we are doing, and it fills my heart with joy to help these folks who are in the fight of their life.”

 Angel Wings’ success has also caught the attention of the Fruitland Chamber of Commerce, which recently named the organization its 2022 Nonprofit of the Year.

 “We are members of the Fruitland Chamber of Commerce because that is part of our service area,” Dobbs said. “I was totally surprised when I went to the luncheon last week and we had been selected by their board as the Nonprofit of the Year.”

 Although grateful for the success in serving cancer patients, Dobbs often worries about keeping the momentum going.

 The need for Angel Wings’ services continues to grow, with volunteers signing up 15 new cancer members just in the fourth quarter alone. Dobbs and her board members have been able to add three new driver volunteers in Parma and Payette and are now targeting Emmett.

 “Our mission statement says we do a 70-mile radius of Weiser and we’ve helped with gas cards in those areas, but if I don’t have the drivers in those areas, we can’t do transports,” she said. “This is really making our services more complete, but it’s placing a lot of pressure on us. But, if we have the drivers, we’re Ok.”

 Angel Wings’ next fundraising event will be this spring.

 “We will tie the spring auction with Idaho Gives,” she said. 

 Idaho Gives is a program of the Idaho Nonprofit Center, which designates a time of giving in Idaho, bringing the state together to raise money for Idaho nonprofits. The 2023 event is scheduled for May 1-4. Registration opened on Jan. 17.

 For more information on Angel Wings, visit www.angelwingsnetwork.net, or call (208) 414-9464.