Eleven-year-old Muslim lives nearly 7,000 miles from The Villages. But that didn’t stop Villager Connie Lowry from changing his life forever. As a volunteer for Airline Ambassadors International, Muslim is the most recent example of a child Lowry has helped by coordinating travel to the United States for life-changing medical care. “He did not speak any English and his father spoke only a little English”, Lowry said. Lowry recently worked to escort Muslim from his home in Baghdad to the Arizona chapter of Healing the Children in Phoenix, where a urological surgery was performed. “After two months, it was OK for him to go home”, the Village of St. James resident said.

Airline Ambassadors International works with organizations such as Healing the Children that provide medical treatment to underprivileged children. “They are essential for us”, said Kristin Mathews, the president and co-director of the Arizona chapter of Healing the Children. “Almost all of our kids are escorted through Airline Ambassadors”. The Arizona chapter is one of the smaller chapters, bringing three children per year to the US for donated medical treatment, Mathews said.

Airline Ambassadors also delivers humanitarian aid to orphanages, clinics, and remote communities, and advocates and educates on child protection and human trafficking awareness. According to Airline Ambassadors International, since being founded in 1996, the group has donated $60 million in aid to children and families in 52 countries, affecting more than 500,000 children. “It is a wonderful and innovative way for airline personnel to give back and volunteer their time”, said Nancy Rivard, president and founder of Airline Ambassadors International. The organization helps kids get medical care that they otherwise never would have access to.

“We provide mainly off-duty airline crew members and retirees to accompany children coming to the US for medical treatment that they either cannot get or cannot afford in their homeland”, said Margaret Whitehead, director of the children’s medical escort program. Whitehead, who oversees five escort coordinators in charge of 250-270 escorts, is one of Lowry’s friends and says she does a terrific job. “It is enjoyable to work with Connie – she never gets excited, even when she arranges a trip and it goes haywire. She simply handles it by herself”.

Lowry learned about Airline Ambassadors International while working at American Airlines and decided to become a volunteer when she retired. “Some kids in Africa with a cleft lip and palate become throwaway kids, so it changes their lives”, Lowry said of the program. Lowry has helped many children during the 10 years of volunteering, she said.

One of the most memorable children was Wu Shuang,  an 11-year-old Chinese girl who was  burned in a house fire. “She and her father survived, but unfortunately her mother did not. She was critically burned over 75 percent of her body”, Lowry said. “She came by ambulance to the airport in Shanghai. When she arrived with our RN/flight attendant escort in Chicago, the connecting plane to Cincinnati was too small to accommodate her stretched-out body, so we had to arrange an ambulance to take her by land”. Lowry has kept in touch with the girl, who is now 18 and said despite having multiple surgeries over the past 7 years, she soon will graduate high school in Indiana with a 3.8 grade point average. She lives with a host family there while undergoing treatment and is able to attend high school while she is in the US. When she returns home to China between surgeries, she is able to continue her studies online. “Her next goal is to get into college in the US”, Lowry said.

Lowry is happy to be a part of an organization that can reach as far as China or Iraq, and anywhere in between. “It makes me really appreciate the US and all we have to offer everyone around the world”, Lowry said. “It’s very humbling to think how these kids’ lives have changed”.

Mathews agrees that being part of a program that does so much for so many is a wonderful feeling. “We make such a big difference by providing treatment that most of us take for granted – oftentimes it’s the simplest of treatments”, Mathews said. “The families are so grateful. Their quality of life improves tremendously”.