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Douglas Clements announced that he is stepping down as President in 2015. Clements joined Wings of Hope in 1997 as President, and together with the Board of Directors, built the St. Louis based organization into a world resource to help the impoverished.
Wings of Hope was founded in St. Louis in 1962. By 1997, the Board of Directors had reorganized and brought several new Directors to guide the organization. They included present Chairman of the Board, Larry Lemke. Together, they established formal goals and processes oriented to increase the programs and projects assistant marginalized citizens worldwide.
Under Clements, noted world Humanitarians such as General Colin Powell, actor Harrison Ford and Dr. Sherrill Kazan (President of the World Council of Peoples for the United Nations) joined with Wings of Hope to lend their influence to helping the world’s poor. Efforts were expanded on several continents with programs and partnerships to help the impoverished, and their government, to deliver more focused human services.
Clements and the Board designed front-line processes focused on raising the poor to a level of parity and to deliver services directly to those needed them:
-Sustainable food and water
-Basic education and healthcase
-Community development, job skills and women managed businesses
-The U.S. based Medical Relief and Air Transport (MAT) Program
These tangible objectives span every aspect of human need and form the core of services delivered by Wings of Hope. Combined with the use of small aircraft for transportation, no region of the world is out of reach.
Wings of Hope serves over 1,000,000 people at 157 bases in 47 countries annually. They focus on strategies to help raise the poor to self-sufficiency and do not accept government or taxpayer funds. They are a four-star charity on Charity Navigator and a gold charity on GuideStar — the highest ratings possible and have been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Board of Directors initiated a search in August to replace Clements.
For more information about Wings of Hope, go to www.wings-of-hope.org.
