With Giving Tuesday just around the corner, we’re celebrating one of our longest-serving volunteers, David Mantz.
We’re praising David, who has reached 37 years of service for our charity, as a prime example of the difference a person can make by volunteering for a cause close to their heart.
KSS was founded in 1989 but David started volunteering two years before our inception after hearing from our Founder Kate Chivers and her vision for an air ambulance in Kent. Since then, David has done everything he can to support us.
As one of our first volunteers, David has paved the way for many others to follow in his footsteps, and today we have more than 100 active volunteers supporting us.
As a passionate advocate, David has delivered talks to community groups across Kent, Surrey and Sussex, inspiring and generating support.
He has helped to raise over £60K for our charity, from over 100 talks he has delivered, raffle tickets sold, donations made at events and more. Together with his wife, also a KSS volunteer, David has packaged and sent out thousands of Christmas cards to supporters over the years. He has trained other volunteers in this activity and has in turn, saved thousands of pounds that would have otherwise been spent to outsource the work.
David Welch, our Chief Executive Officer said: “David has devoted 37 years to supporting KSS, which we are so very thankful for. He saw the vision from our founder and amazingly committed two years to helping raise funds before we even had our first helicopter. We are now a world-leading provider of pre-hospital critical care, and have attended over 46,000 missions since we were founded. We owe David and his family our sincere thanks and appreciation for the years of dedication, generosity and kindness he has committed to KSS and the communities we serve.”
Claire Stanley, UK leader for Giving Tuesday, said: “David’s commitment and dedication has helped transform this ambitious charity into an invaluable and essential service that is saving lives across Kent, Surrey and Sussex safe. The focus on raising both funds and awareness amongst the local community shows us how people can use their skills and voice to inspire others and make a real difference.
“We hope David’s story gets people thinking about how they can support their local charities this Giving Tuesday, so together we can transform our communities for the better.”
David was appointed as Director of Air Ambulance Promotions Limited (AAPL) in 2001. This is our wholly owned trading company which raises funds through our lottery and by selling merchandise.
Through this role David has witnessed and supported the medical advances that our teams have made throughout our 35-year history. This includes the move to carry blood and doctors on board, becoming the first 24/7 Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) in the country, and serving the communities of Kent, Surrey and Sussex with two AW169 helicopters that we now proudly owns. Within his Director’s role David helps to oversee the running of our lottery and raffles, our biggest income stream raising £95.5M since he first joined.
We’re celebrating David Mantz and all of our wonderful volunteers as part of this year’s Giving Tuesday campaign. We’re so thankful to all of our selfless and dedicated volunteers for their kindness and generosity.
