Help From Finnair To Vietnamese Children

Finnair is launching the Change for Good Christmas charity campaign in cooperation with UNICEF again this year. For the third consecutive year, the beneficiaries will be UNICEF’s Children and AIDS campaign in Vietnam.
    December 1 – International AIDS Day – has been chosen as the launch date, and collections continue for six weeks until January 11, 2009.

    “Finnair and its customers have been involved with the Change for Good campaigns for more than ten years,” says Christer Haglund, Senior Vice President, Finnair Corporate Communications. “Over the years, we have collected over 800,000 euros. Change for Good has also been the official charity of the oneworld global alliance, of which Finnair is a member, since 1999. Member airlines contribute millions of euros every year to UNICEF’s projects. This is an effective and concrete way to improve the situation of developing countries.”

    Change for Good is organised on almost all international flights, except for the very shortest ones. Passengers can place spare change in an envelope in the seat pocket. The sealed envelopes are collected by cabin crew.
    On Leisure flights, the envelopes are collected on return flights. Donations can also be made through the Finnish UNICEF web site at
www.unicef.fi/lahjoitaverkossa – Lapset ja aids Vietnamissa (Children and AIDS in Vietnam). It’s also possible to make contributions at collection points in Finnair’s lounge areas at Helsinki-Vantaa airport.
    Over the last two years almost 100,000 euros have been collected for Vietnamese children. One of the uses of the funds is the provision of drugs for pregnant HIV-positive Vietnamese women that can help to prevent the spread of the condition to their unborn children. The money also goes towards education programmes for mothers and young people as well as AIDS testing, for example. HIV positive orphans also receive help from the funds.

    In previous years, Change for Good campaigns have contributed to educational projects in Ruanda and Nepal, for instance, as well as AIDS projects in Vietnam and Kaliningrad and emergency aid in Kosovo.

    Instead of sending Christmas cards and gifts this year, Finnair will donate the equivalent sums to Change for Good.

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