If you have ever wanted to see a freedom flight, now is your chance.
Wings of Rescue, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization of volunteer pilots, will be hosting its inaugural holiday gala on Nov. 17, with part of the evening devoted to seeing off 100 shelter animals as they get on their flight to freedom.
Image Credit: ASPCA
Starting at 6:30 pm. people will arrive at a hanger at the Van Nuys airport in Los Angeles for the benefit.
Related: Tune in Tomorrow: Live Broadcast of 100 Animals Boarding Their Flight To Freedom
Emceed by TV personality and author Jane Velez-Mitchell, animal lovers will enjoy an evening full of eating, drinking, dancing and more.
Guests will be treated to a vegan dinner from a well-known Los Angeles gourmet restaurant, while sipping on tasty beverages. There will also be a live and silent auction with a variety of prizes, including a co-pilot seat on a future Wings of Rescue freedom flight. There will also be dancing, live music and special celebrity guest appearances.
But it’s the main event that makes this gala unique. During the benefit, 100 dogs and cats will be coming from shelters in the Bakersfield and Riverside areas of California, where they risked being euthanized. At around 9 pm, guests can watch the animals be loaded onto an airplane for their freedom flights. (For those people who purchase VIP tickets, they will have a hands on role during the process.). And then they get to see them off, watching as the airplane flies into the sky and the animals get to start their next chapter.
Image Credit: Wings of Rescue
The animals will land the following day in New Jersey where East Coast rescues like St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center, Sean Casey, Tompkins County SPCA and Social Tees will be on hand to get the pups set up for their new beginnings. It will definitely be an emotional rollercoaster.
Related: Olivia Munn Can’t Stop Showing Off Her Rescued Dog She Adopted From Social Tees in NYC
The gala’s freedom flight is part of Wings of Rescue’s bigger life-saving holiday airlift. The following day, approximately 900 more animals will get their flight to freedom, meaning 1,000 animals will be saved from death row in 24 hours.
To date Wings of Rescue has saved more than 22,200 animals since its inception in 2009. This year alone approximately 10,000 will be rescued. With California euthanizing thousands of animals a year, it is a necessity to get them on these flights and into other cities.. Each flight costs approximately $10,000. All proceeds from the evening will go towards funding more freedom flights.
Tickets are $150 for general admission and $250 for VIP (both are tax deductible). The event goes from 6:30 to 10:00 and will be at the Van Nuys airport, located at 16700 Roscoe Blvd.
Van Nuys, CA 91406. More information can be found on their website.
Here is one they caught on video:
