NON-PROFIT SPOTLIGHT
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Constantly getting supplies for missionaries, we wanted
to be closer to stores. We looked at Miami and Sebring,
but Fort Pierce was the best.”
Treasure Coast International Airport has what many
other small airports do not: Immigration and Customs.
St. Lucie County sweetened the deal even further.
“Counties own airport land. You can build a building,
but you only lease the land. In Palm Beach, we could get
a 20-year lease, after which we’d have to rent at the going
rate. St. Lucie County offered a 40-year lease, renewable
for another 40. Our response was, ‘Great!’”
Because fund-raising had already begun for a proposed
move within Palm Beach County, funds for a down payment
on a Fort Pierce building were on hand.
“We financed the rest and paid it off in four years,”
says Karabensh. “It’s an awesome facility.”
In 2011, the organization purchased the hangar next
door which currently houses a donated airplane.
“It will take years to refurbish it,” Karabensh explains.
“It had been sitting in South Africa for 12 years, deteriorating.
We got it for ‘free’ after paying $300,000 for back
storage. New engines cost another $900,000, but when
we are through it will be a $4 million airplane that cost us
half that.”
All of the equipment to rebuild and repair the plane is
onsite, saving more resources.
VERSATILE PLANES
MFI owns two operational DC-3s, one of which was
recently outfitted with a new kit enabling it to carry an
additional net weight of 1,500 pounds. >>
ELLEN GILLETTE
Like all MFI pilots, president Joe Karabensh is also an airplane mechanic as
well as a missionary supported by individuals and churches. A resident of
Vero, Karabensh has seen firsthand and from the air tremendous progress in
Haiti’s development and infrastructure.
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