Nearly 10 million Skywards Miles have been
generously donated by members of Skywards, the frequent flyer programme of
Emirates and SriLankan Airlines, for use by three international aid agencies
involved in the Tsunami relief effort.Since 12th January 2005, members have been donating Miles online at
www.skywards.com   for the relief efforts.  Their
Miles will be used to fly volunteers and medical teams working for UN
Volunteers, Islamic Relief and Oxfam to the affected areas.

Members’ donations of 9,755,000, as of 12th February, plus one million Miles
donated by Skywards to start off the appeal, bring the total raised so far
to 10,755,000 Miles.  Members are continuing to donate Miles through the
Skywards website.

 

Brian LaBelle, Skywards’ Vice President, said: “Like the rest of the world,
we in Skywards felt compelled to help the unfortunate victims of this
terrible disaster and thought that our members would also like to
contribute.

 

“Emirates and SriLankan Airlines operate numerous flights to the affected
areas, which are proving to be a vital and speedy lifeline for aid agencies’
volunteers and medical teams, and we are very happy to be able to help.”

 

Skywards members have been generous in past charity appeals.  The programme
recently celebrated the addition of its one millionth member by donating one
million Skywards Miles to aid agencies UNICEF, Beit Al Kheir and CARE
International and also inviting members to do likewise. 

 

The initiative raised some eight million Miles for UNICEF, six million Miles
for CARE International and nearly three million Miles to Beit Al Kheir, a
Dubai-based charity that provides humanitarian assistance to underprivileged
people in the UAE.

 

This will be the fifth year that Skywards has run the Thanks a Million
raffle draw at the Dubai World Cup horseracing meeting in aid of the
Dubai-based charity Riding for the Disabled Association of Dubai (RDAD),
which teaches therapeutic horse riding to children and young adults with
disabilities such as autism and cerebral palsy. 

 

Skywards has raised US$256,000 (Dh941,000) so far for RDAD’s campaign to
build an indoor arena to enable the young riders to continue their therapy
during the hot summer months.
——-