Advanced Helicopter Youth Foundation (AHYF)
After 10 years of running the day-to-day operations of Advanced Helicopter Concepts (AHC), 31 years of flying, and over 10,000 hrs, I’m turning some of the day-to-day operations over to Ryan Dale, Chief Flight Instructor at AHC, in pursuit of starting and operating Advanced Helicopter Youth Foundation (AHYF). I will still be involved to help with your helicopter needs, but Ryan will be taking over more of the daily operations and the school functions.
The Genesis for Advanced Helicopter Youth Foundation
In 2006, one of my three sons was diagnosed as bipolar, ADD, and other emotional and Physiological problems. This was truly a life changing event for the whole family. The way a child with these kinds of issues behaves impacts the whole family like a tidle wave in the living room. After struggling at home with problems that would take too long to address in this letter, my wife and I decided to put our son in a residential treatment center which is in Calhoun, Tennessee named Advent Home, a Christian-based facility.
Advent Home serves North America. Students are accepted without regard to race, religion, ethnic background or national origin. These types of centers are very expensive and not covered by insurance traditionally. My wife and I have been blessed with the means to generally handle the expense, but regardless of your income level taking that kind of money out of any household budget can really hurt.
After getting involved as a family with Advent Home it soon became apparent to us that a lot of children came and went. Some left early just when you could see measurable results in their outlook, attitude, and behavior. Money was more often than not the problem. This troubled us greatly as we watched children that we got to know leave before they were ready.
One afternoon in Tennessee, with tears in my eyes, I decided to do something about it. After months of thought and prayer I contacted Willem Meiners and Alice Rush who own one of The R-44’s at AHC. Willem had also helped with my son’s situation, and he and Alice had a foundation that had similar goals. We decided to merge our efforts and take it to another level by helping families in similar situations, and ADVANCED HELICOPTER YOUTH FOUNDATION was born.
If you would like to help make a check out to Advanced Helicopter Concepts, Inc, mark on the check “Foundation” and leave it at the front desk or send to:
Advanced Helicopter Concepts, Inc.
330 Aviation Way
Frederick, Maryland 21701
301-694-5313
You may also add it to your next invoice, just tell the front desk how much and they can take care of it on your Credit Card, Check or Cash.
Thank you for your years of support.
Neal Lanning
Here is the difference in Neal's son over an 8 month Period at Advent Home
