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Flightpath.
CATHAY PACIFIC COMMUNITY SUPPORT MAKING A DIFFERENCE ACROSS ITS NETWORK
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athay Pacific Airways and the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF have announced that nearly $2 million was raised through Change for Good, the airline’s inflight fundraising programme, in the 2012 programme period. Since the programme was launched in 1991, more than $17 million has been donated by passengers to support UNICEF programmes that help underprivileged children in more than 150 developing countries around the world. At a cheque presentation ceremony to UNICEF Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific chief operating officer Ivan Chu stressed that the airline would continue to support UNICEF’s good work, “UNICEF HK is Cathay Pacific’s long-term charity partner. The ‘Change for Good’ programme has been a tremendous success. We are grateful to our passengers for the continued generosity they have shown over the past two decades. We would also like
to express our gratitude to all Cathay Pacific staff who have contributed to the smooth running of this meaningful programme as well as making their own donations and volunteering in field trips and related work.” Acknowledging the continued support provided by Cathay Pacific, Judy Chen, Chairman of UNICEF HK, said, “The Change for Good programme fully demonstrates the power of pooling resources; it turns spare change into positive change in children’s lives worldwide. With support from Cathay Pacific, we will accelerate the child protection efforts in Vietnam next year to save and improve the lives of more vulnerable children, such as street children. We believe that together the goal of ‘zero suffering’ is achievable.” Most of the money raised through the inflight fundraising programme goes to support UNICEF’s projects worldwide for improving the lives of underprivileged women and children.
An average of one month’s proceeds from the programme is donated to the Cathay Pacific Wheelchair Bank — an initiative set up in 1996 — to improve the mobility of Hong Kong children suffering from severe neuromuscular diseases. About $300,000 from the Change for Good donations this year will be used to support the child protection programme in four selected provinces in Vietnam. The programme aims to develop a comprehensive child protection system to respond to emerging vulnerabilities due to neglect, abuse, violence, and exploitation at all levels in Vietnam. With the donations it receives, UNICEF will be able to develop Social Work Service Centres and its child protection work across the four provinces and up to national level. The centres will provide direct assistance and services for vulnerable children, in particular street children, child labourers suffering abuse, exploitation and child trafficking. »
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