Cradle Cargo Mission Flight #5:

Kansas City, KS → Marshall, TX

Mission Date: 7-23-2026
Aircraft: Cirrus SR22T
Cargo: 5 Boxes
Miles Flown: 443
Flight Time: 2.45

Hospitals Reached: 5
Grieving Families Served: 150

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Meet the Pilot: Kelly Nimmo-Guenther

Kelly Nimmo-Guenther is a Colorado native, mother of two daughters, and wife to a supportive husband who has returned to her roots in the Rocky Mountain West. A Cirrus SR22T pilot, COPA Board member, and lifelong aviation enthusiast, her flying journey began as a skydiver with Aggies Over Texas at Texas A&M University.

After a career as a Partner at a worldwide consulting firm specializing in business strategy, process design, and technology solutions for Fortune 100/500 clients, she founded and led two nonprofit organizations for over a decade. Today, Kelly combines her professional expertise and nonprofit leadership with her passion for aviation, holding both a private pilot’s license and instrument rating. She is committed to lifelong learning and a career of service.

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The Mission

Sometimes the end of one Cradle Cargo mission is simply the beginning of another!

After an incredible week at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, Kelly Nimmo-Guenther flew Ashley home to Wichita, bringing their inaugural Cradle Cargo adventure full circle. But before Kelly departed, Ashley’s husband, Matt, arrived with five more boxes of Bridget’s Cradles for Kelly to carry on her upcoming travels.

Kelly already had another trip planned. She would be flying to Kansas City to visit family with her sister, Kristy, before continuing south to Marshall, Texas, where she would drop Kristy off.

And just like that, another Cradle Cargo mission was underway!

The five boxes traveled aboard Kelly’s Cirrus from Wichita to Kansas City and then onward to Texas. This time, however, Kelly wouldn’t be completing the hospital deliveries. Her sister, Kristy, stepped in as a Cradle Carrier, helping complete the final miles of the mission.

Kristy is delivering the five boxes of cradles and bereavement resources to hospitals in the surrounding Texas communities, where they will be available to support families experiencing pregnancy loss.

What makes this mission so special is how naturally it came together. Kelly was already planning to fly to Kansas City and Texas to spend time with family. By making room for five boxes aboard her airplane, she turned those existing flights into another opportunity to carry hope.

And by involving her sister, the mission became a family effort—two sisters, one airplane, five boxes of cradles, and a shared desire to serve grieving families.

Mission #005 is another reminder that Cradle Cargo doesn’t always require a special flight or a complicated plan. Sometimes it simply takes a pilot willing to make room and someone on the ground willing to carry the mission the rest of the way.

Follow Kelly’s First Two Missions!

This wasn’t Kelly’s first time carrying hope! In fact, she was the pilot who helped launch Cradle Cargo, flying Ashley and the first boxes of cradles from Wichita to Wisconsin for EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Along the way, they delivered cradles to hospitals in Janesville, connected with fellow pilots, and watched the mission begin spreading across the country.

Catch up on the flights that started it all:

Mission #001: Cradle Cargo Took Flight — Wichita to Janesville, Wisconsin

Mission #002: Oshkosh: Where One Flight Became Many — Janesville to Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Mission #5: Complete.

Cradle Cargo is an aviation initiative of Bridget’s Cradles that mobilizes volunteer pilots to carry handmade cradles and bereavement resources to hospitals across the country. By utilizing flights pilots are already making—and available cargo space that might otherwise fly empty—Cradle Cargo helps us reach more hospitals faster while giving the aviation community a meaningful way to serve grieving families. From takeoff to final delivery, every mission carries one important cargo: hope.

Learn more at CradleCargo.com.