Trouble has been brewing for a while in the administration of Angel Flight Northeast, but now the organization’s survival appears at risk, according to a Boston Globe story. The story details a conflict between the nonprofit organization’s board of directors and Lawrence Camerlin, the group’s founder and executive director. After Camerlin hired his daughter as a community outreach worker, he later fired a director who had raised questions about her duties and pay. The daughter was eventually taken off the payroll, but in January, Camerlin fired the entire board. He told the Globe he did so after the directors raised the possibility of lawsuits. “We felt they were in violation of their fiduciary responsibilities,” he said. “They wouldn’t give us information about claims likely to be filed against us.” The directors were stunned, according to the Globe. Although the group is continuing to organize charitable flights, donors now are skittish about funding the group and both sides have complained to authorities that the other side acted improperly, the Globe reported.
Angel Flight Northeast has been operating since 1996, and is based at Lawrence Municipal Airport in North Andover, Mass. Since its inception, volunteer pilots have flown over 8 million miles, completing an average of 100 missions per week, according to the group’s Web site. According to Charity Navigator, an independent charity evaluator, the group raised about $1.2 million in 2007, and earned the highest rank, a four-star rating.
