ST. LOUIS — The International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT) Foundation recently awarded Wings of Hope an $8,000 grant to support medevac services at one of the organization’s newest field bases: Papua New Guinea.

This is the second grant Wings of Hope has received from the ISTAT Foundation. In 2015, the foundation awarded the aviation nonprofit a $10,000 grant to support its work providing emergency medical flights in Nicaragua.

“We are very grateful to the ISTAT Foundation for its continued support of our efforts to use aviation for the greater good,” said Wings of Hope Board Chair Steve Akre. “In a place like Papua New Guinea — wher people are literally cut off from health care resources — havin access to a plane to fly people to emergency medical care is often the difference between life and death.”

Wings of Hope is one of 14 humanitarian organizations that received a total of $150,000 from the ISTAT Foundation in 2016.

The ISTAT Foundation’s Humanitarian Aid Program supports causes that are designed to help save lives, promote human welfare, and provide medical treatment and transportation to those suffering from global disasters and afflictions.

Wings of Hope is an aviation non-profit delivering humanitarian programs around the globe. The nonprofit works in Africa, Asia and the Americas, partnering with communities to improve their health, education, food security and economic opportunity. In 2003, the charity established its Medical Relief & Air Transport (MAT) Program to serve the need for health care access that exists in the U.S.