The Insurance Brokers Association of Saskatchewan (IBAS) today announced a $10,000 donation to STARS air ambulance in the province, as part of the association’s annual charitable campaign.

These funds are aimed to help offset immediate fundraising shortfalls at STARS due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to support the organization’s mission on the front lines of this public health crisis. Roughly half of the STARS operating budget is financed through non-government sources.

“When we selected STARS as our 2020 charity partner last fall, COVID-19 wasn’t in our vocabularies,” explains IBAS CEO Derek Lothian. “But the events of the past several weeks have only added to the prevalence of that selection. Especially with diminished fundraising capacities, community organizations like STARS need our help now more than ever.”

IBAS will continue to raise funds for STARS through the remainder of the year, culminating in a final campaign total to be unveiled in December.

“We live in a province with fewer than 1.2 million residents over a land mass of more than 650,000 square kilometers,” says Lothian. “Because of our dispersion and geography, air ambulance service is sometimes the only difference between life and death. That’s why we as insurance brokers — operating in more than 250 different communities across Saskatchewan — are so proud to support this worthwhile cause.”