As an educator, a proud uncle of six nieces and nephews, and as a JFK-based International Purser-Champion for Children, I was honored to represent the 2,700 registered volunteers at American Airlines during my first UNICEF field visit. For years, I have been collecting donations from American Airlines customers through Change for Good, a global UNICEF program that converts travelers’ contributions of foreign currency into lifesaving services for the world’s children.

Let’s hear it for the Champions! For the fourth year in a row, American Airlines flight attendant volunteers and Admirals Club staff — known as “Champions for Children” — collected donations from generous American Airlines customers that totaled more than $1 million.
In all, $1,185,739.82 was raised in 2012 through UNICEF’s Change for Good program on American Airlines. A global campaign launched by UNICEF in 1987, Change for Good converts airline travelers’ donations of currency — dollars, Euros, pesos, reais — into lifesaving services for vulnerable children. American Airlines customers have donated nearly $9 million through Change for Good since 1994.

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF has engaged generations of grassroots supporters of UNICEF’s mission to reduce the number of preventable childhood deaths to ZERO. As one of the longest-running volunteer initiatives in America, it is only fitting that Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF will again join forces with UNICEF’s Change for Good program on American Airlines, a volunteer-based effort.

Last year, Champions for Children voted on a portion of the Change for Good funds collected would go to help protect vulnerable children from exploitation and child trafficking in the Dominican Republic. The DR is one of the countries where the number of children being sexually exploited has skyrocketed alarmingly.

Thanks to generous American Airlines customers and dedicated employee volunteers known as Champions for Children, more than $1.34 million was raised in 2011 through UNICEF’s Change for Good program on American Airlines. Now in its 17th year, UNICEF’s Change for Good program on American Airlines is one of American’s largest—and one of its longest-running—employee-led charitable programs. It is primarily driven by the Champion for Children employee volunteers who encourage customers on select international American Airlines flights and Admirals Club lounges and Flagship Lounges worldwide to donate unused U.S. and foreign currencies to support UNICEF. On behalf of the world’s children, Thanks a Million+, American Airlines employee volunteers and customers.

I had the opportunity to attend the UNICEF Snowflake Ball in New York City at Cipriani 42nd Street this year with another flight attendant Champion for Children, Martin Beltran. This was such an amazing event. Under the twinkling lights and the mosquito netting there was a lot of beauty in the glamorous guests dressed up for the night, but there was also the inner beauty shining in those who give their time and money to make a difference in the lives of children.