easyJet, a UK-based airline, has launched an emergency appeal with UNICEF, a major world children’s organisation, to help the nearly four million children who have been affected by the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
A part of easyJet and UNICEF’s ‘Change for Good’ partnership, the emergency appeal was launched on all easyJet flights on November 14. The on-board donations from passengers will be collected on easyJet’s 7,000 flights per week, which cover the airline’s pan-European network of over 600 routes across more than 33 countries.
The money raised through passenger donations will help UNICEF to provide clean water, life-saving emergency food and medicine for the children of the Philippines.
Carolyn McCall, easyJet’s chief executive, said: ‘As the UK’s largest airline, we are in a very strong position to help the people affected by Typhoon Haiyan with our emergency onboard appeal. At easyJet we have been deeply moved by the scenes of devastation in the Philippines and that is why we are launching an emergency appeal on all our flights from today in partnership with UNICEF. To get the appeal started we have donated £20,000. We hope our support, and the generosity of our passengers, will help make a difference to the communities affected.’
David Bull, UNICEF UK’s executive director, added: ‘We’re extremely grateful to easyJet for their financial support which will be critical to help us continue getting supplies to children and families whose lives have been devastated by Typhoon Haiyan. Many of them have lost everything and are in urgent need of clean water, shelter and protection from malnutrition and disease. The contributions from easyJet and its passengers, will help us scale up our emergency response and get vital supplies to those desperately in need of our help.’
The Change for Good partnership between easyJet and UNICEF has collected over £2.1 million through passenger donations for UNICEF’s life-saving work for children since July 2012. At present easyJet is the highest fundraising partner of the Change for Good programme.
