With the cancellation of this year’s NBAA-BACE, the Corporate Angel Network (CAN) has moved one of its hallmark fundraisers, the Fund an Angel auction, online. CAN typically holds the auction in tandem with the annual Fund an Angel event on the second night of the NBAA convention and exhibition. The 2019 event and auction raised more than $500,000 for CAN’s mission of arranging transportation aboard business jets for cancer patients seeking treatment.

“While the CAN team wishes we could be in person for this event as we’ve done for the past 10 years, I am pleased that we still have a platform to generate funds for our operation while promoting the positive impact business aviation has on cancer patients throughout the country,” said CAN executive director Gina Russo.

The fundraiser is particularly important this year, Russo added. “The Covid-19 pandemic has severely impacted CAN financial resources, as well as the availability of aircraft,” she said. “When flight departments decreased flight activity in mid-March, it presented a unique challenge for the CAN model. Fortunately, through the support of the business aviation community, we have remained a critical part of our patients’ treatment plans and continue to transport them to the country’s top treatment centers.”

Now live, the online auction will close at 8 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, October 7. CAN will add items to the auction list as they come in, and bids can be placed at any time. Participants also can make direct pledges to CAN. Items listed range from cases of Chateau Dassault wine to jet fuel cards, paintings, attire, and a vacation package.

Before the pandemic, CAN coordinated about 250 patient flights each month, and it has flown more than 63,000 patients since its founding in 1981.