Airline Ambassadors teams provided Recognize It Report It Human Trafficking Awareness training at all THREE Bay Area Airports before the SuperBowl in Santa Clara. With support for our OnLine Training from the Bay Area Anti Trafficking Coalition, 1000 frontline airport personnel were trained to effectively scan 24 Million passengers traveling to the Bay Area for the SuperBowl and throughout 2016. Check out some of the Press below:
ABC FOX NBC CBS
San Jose Mercury News Daily Kos NBC
Univision Press Release
Can’t make the trainings? No problem our on line training is available! Due to a grant from the Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition, this training can be provided for free to 500 persons in the Bay Area!
In addition to the in-person training programs Airline Ambassadors has teamed up with two world-class organizations to deliver AAI’s training programs online. Classroom24-7 (www.classroom24-7.com) is a leading provider of online education technologies and services. Counter Human Trafficking Compliance Solutions (https://www.chtcs.com/) is a global compliance and advisory company that provides on-site assessments, improvement plans, training, research, and supply chain transparency required for corporations to combat human trafficking, forced labor, and child labor. Just Click this LINK
“We’re honored to be helping Airline Ambassadors combat human trafficking on a massive scale. Using our technology platform, employees in the air travel industry will get critical training anytime, anywhere they have an internet connection,” says Ernie Liang, Classroom24-7’s CEO. Linda Rizk, Founder of Counter Human Trafficking Compliance Solutions, adds “Airline Ambassador’s human trafficking awareness program is closely aligned with our mission eliminate human trafficking in corporations’ supply chains. We believe Nancy’s approach of attacking human trafficking through working with the air travel industry is smart, strategic and effective. We’re proud to support Airline Ambassador’s important work.”
“Changing the World via the Miracle of Flight” Ambassadors invites you to spend an evening with true American heroes at the SFO Aviation museum on Monday, January 11, 2016: out to learn about our programs, enjoy a fabulous dinner, and interact with people who have used their unique position in the airline industry to make the airline business; and the world as a whole a better place. You will get to meet and greet:
All proceeds from the evening will benefit Airline Ambassadors programs which aim to educate and prevent human trafficking on commercial airliners, assist in delivering humanitarian aid to poverty stricken areas of the world; and help facilitate life saving medical treatment for children by providing adult escort companions when traveling to and from the US. All donations and purchases of tickets are tax deductible.
Get your tickets HERE (and enjoy the 2015 tax benefit!)
Have questions?Contact Angels@airlineamb.org
Captain Al Haynes- Pilot of United Airlines flight 232, a DC-10 that experienced catastrophic hydraulic failure in 1989, resulting in a crash landing in Sioux City, Iowa. Due to his heroic actions and composed communication skills, 185 of the 296 passengers and all but one crew member survived the accident. Captain Haynes was instrumental in designing many of the training procedures that are in use at airlines today. See this Link
Flight Attendant Doreen Welsh – Survivor of Miracle on the Hudson. Doreen was part of the crew working US Airways Flight 1549 on January 15,2009 when the aircraft made a ditching in the Hudson river. Doreen was the only flight attendant who was injured; having her ankle impaled by an eight inch metal rod. She was at the back of the aircraft and made a critical; split second decision to stop passengers from opening the rear doors and having them climb over the seats-a decision that was credited by NTSB investigators as key limiting injuries and contributing to the successful evacuation with zero fatalities. See this LINK
Captain Denny Flanagan – Goodwill Ambassador for the Airline Industry Captain Flanagan comes from a 45 year career in commercial aviation. He is based in ORD and flies the Boeing 757/767 for United Airlines on Transatlantic and Transcontinental routes. He has established a reputation as the “goodwill ambassador” of the airline industry by taking unorthodox actions to benefit passengers including taking picture of animals in cargo bins to allow owners to see the animal was onboard and calls parents of unaccompanied minors during lengthy delays. He has been known to give away bottles of wine, trading cars, and discount coupons to random passengers on his flights. Captain Flanagan serves on the Board for the Jason Dahl Scholarship Fund, named after the Captain of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. He is a navy veteran and retired from active duty in 1993. His good works have been recognized by the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the New York Times, and in various other publications. See this LINK
Flight Attendant Patty Young – Stopped Smoking on Airplanes. Patty is known by many as an aviation Joan of Arc. Her tenacity and commitment led to a successful suit against the tobacco industry that resulted in eliminating smoking on airplanes. She is on the Board of the Flight Attendant medical Research Institute (FAMRI) which funds anti smoking research. See this LINK
Flight Attendant Donna Hubbard – Raising Awareness of Human Trafficking Donna Hubbard will share the remarkable story of how she survived seven years of trafficking and transformed her experience to become Airline Ambassadors inspirational trainer, raising awareness of in the airline industry of one of the most important human rights issues of our time. Now as founder of Women of the Well Transition Center in Atlanta, she has transformed her own experience into a vehicle for service to others. See this LINK
Relief and Development workers in the 21st century are facing challenges unlike any we have seen before. Instability constitutes the greatest tax on our development investments and threatens human progress. It is critical to our national security that relief and development, diplomacy, and defense agencies work effectively together. AAI has a long tradition of cooperation with the Department of Defense (DoD) and local embassies (the Department of State or DOS) for humanitarian response. Our cooperation has now expanded to include all aspects of development activities in pre- and post-conflict and disaster environments where security conditions affect the type and scope of development programs.
It is in this spirit that AAI has become one of the first signatory NGO’s for the Civilian-Military Cooperation initiative of the U. S. Army, the Humanitarian Aid Division (HAD). This new Policy, and Division, complements the concepts contained in National Security Presidential Directive-44 and DoD Directive 3000.05 on stability operations. The Policy establishes the foundation for NGO-DOS-DoD cooperation in planning and implementation. At the same time, it ensures that these new initiatives do not divert signatory NGO’s from their core sustainable aid relief and development mission. It also authorizes the U. S. Department of State, through USAID and the DoD, to pursue and support organizational changes required to support civilian-military cooperation.
Since AAI’s experience in Bosnia, El Salvador, Kosovo and later during Hurricane Katrina in 2004, we started working more intimately with military components to bring coherence to this whole-of-government planning effort, particularly at the level of the military’s theater security cooperation planning and the country team-driven Country Assistance Strategy. It is critical that we adopt a coordinated approach across regions and countries in order to avoid fragmentation of our efforts. Identifying ways of working together will ensure that our joint development efforts can be maximally effective.
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Airline Ambassadors is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization helping children worldwide.
Washington DC – USA TODAY announced Airlines Ambassadors International was recognized as one of the top best gift ideas for Business Travelers. http://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-gift-for-business-travelers/ Voters were impressed with the opportunity of giving the gift of paying it forward in the name of a business Traveler. The hero force program allows an individual to contribute monthly at three different levels. Contributions support Airline Ambassadors work helping orphans and vulnerable children worldwide. https://oldsite.airlineamb.org/eforms/hero-force/
“This is a great gift for the person who everything. It’s also a great way to show compassion and gratitude, ” said president and founder of Airline Ambassadors, Nancy Rivard. “We hope that today on Global Giving Tuesday shoppers and contributors will visit our website or click Hero Force to join. If you want your choice to be a GIFT we will send the recipient a note as well!
To join simply: Text the word as a message: “AirlineAMBHeroForce” Send to: 96362
Click the reply link, select any Hero option to support, as low as .99 per month.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015, #GIVINGTUESDAY, 12/1
About Airline Ambassadors International (AAI)
Airline Ambassadors International (AAI) helps orphans and vulnerable children worldwide by leveraging connections with the airline industry towards humanitarian 
service.
Volunteers escort children for life changing medical care, hand deliver humanitarian aid to children in orphanages, clinics and remote communities, and advocate and educate on child protection and human trafficking awareness.
About the USA Today awards:
A panel of experts picked the initial 20 nominees, and the top 10 winners were determined by popular vote. Experts Sarah Cloninger (Road Warriorette), Sandy Dhuyvetter (TravelTalkMEDIA), Christopher Elliott (USA TODAY), Rob Hard (Business Travel Destinations) and Lydia Schrandt (10Best Editor) were chosen based on their extensive business travel experience.
10Best and USA TODAY extend their congratulations to all the winners.
The top 10 winners in the category Best Gift for Business Travelers are as follows:
- Lo & Sons OG Overnight Bag
- Personalized Royce Nappa Leather Luggage Tags
- Knomad Portable Organizer
- Molton Brown Travel Luxuries Set
- Incase City Brief
- Airline Ambassadors Hero Force
- Jackery Mini
- GoToob
- Genius Pack 22″ Carry On Spinner
- Mujjo Leather Wallet Case for iPhon
Shahrazan Isa is a United Nations Youth Representative for Airline Ambassadors and represented us at the International Young Leaders Assembly (IYLA) which took place at United Nations headquarters in New York, on August 18,2015
Currently there are 1.8 billion young people around the world. This is the largest number of youth in given history. Moreover, it is crucial for youth to participate in the decisions of politics, economic affairs, cultural ideas and much more social activities. Young people are today’s leaders and have to be involved in making a better tomorrow.
It is apparent that education of young people is increasing however according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), “young people are three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and almost 73 million youth worldwide are looking for work.” Multiple speakers have brought up the frustration and lack of opportunity economically, socially and politically. This augments youth vulnerability and leads to many to turn in desperation to violent organizations. As speaker Poonam Ahluwalia, mentioned how she was concerned about the lack of jobs available for youth. Ahluwalia founded the organization titled YES, which works to incorporate young people into the job market.
Dr. Su Thye, founder of the Global Peace foundation, gave his speech on leadership and had the audience think of leadership and the qualities of what makes a leader. Dr. Su Thye said “All of us aspire to be somebody and it is what motivates us to do things in life.” And he asked the audience a series of questions to get them to think of why we want to become leaders and what is the greater purpose of leadership. Thye goes on to explain what make a bad leader is one who focuses on their self-interest and not of the greater good of humanity. In contrast, good leaders strive for a purpose that is bigger than oneself. Good leaders seek to not only benefit the community but also for the nation and the global community this is what is a moral leader. Thye explained how there is a huge deficit of moral leaders.
Rosemary Odinga, director of Odinga foundation spoke about how young people around the world do not have an identity in the eyes of their government. Odinga explains how the belonging is “where you are accountable for your country and your country is accountable for you.” Odinga explains how the engagement of young people helped make a difference like the Arab Spring started from young people voicing their frustration and in the United States young people helped elect the first African American president. Although young people are making a difference in many countries around the world the youth are discounted from social, political and economic affairs. In Kenya the youth make up 75% of the population, yet they battle with unemployment, deprived access to healthcare, lack business opportunities and hardly have access to financial services. The cause of these battles youth are facing in Kenya and many other parts of the globe is simply because identity cards for youth are non existent. Not having papers to identify you as a person symbolizes illegitimacy in the government’s eyes. By the youth having a lack of belonging makes them vulnerable to groups like Isis, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda and Al Shabab. Odinga has dedicated the past 7 years to help youth in Kenya gain legitimacy by helping them get identity cards and birth certificates. Odinga explains how an identity card is a necessity for governments to implement border control, disaster aid and voting. Odinga works with the organization called “yes youth can my ID my life campaign”, which helps youth obtained IDs and other forms of identification.
Popes speech to UN on Sept 24, 2015
“Our world demands of all government leaders a will which is effective, practical and constant, concrete steps and immediate measures for preserving and improving the natural environment and thus putting an end as quickly as possible to the phenomenon of social and economic exclusion, with its baneful consequences: human trafficking, the marketing of human organs and tissues, the sexual exploitation of boys and girls, slave labour, including prostitution, the drug and weapons trade, terrorism and international organized crime. We need to ensure that our institutions are truly effective in the struggle against all these scourges.”
September 24, 2015, after an inspiring opening by the Pope, world leaders from 181 countries formally adopted the Sustainable Development Goals as a blueprint to bring humanity to a world without poverty.
These 17 goals provide measurable indicators for every country to build a better world.
Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning
Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all
Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Goal 8: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all
Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
Goal 16: Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies
Goal 17: Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
AAI was privileged to be part of this historic event and hear commitments from President’s of Germany, Norway, Vietnam and Kenya, discussing their countries commitments to Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
Airline Ambassadors efforts to “Travel & Make a Difference” promotes the understanding of our common humanity and our responsibility to one another and to all Life.
Foundation for a Slavery Free World and actress Marisol Nichols honored AAI’s Nancy Rivard, as well as John Ryan, CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Kim Biddle of Saving Innocence with a Human Rights Hero Award at an beautiful evening at Beso Restaurant on Sept 21, 2015 in Los Angeles. Keynote addresses by Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes and Tim Ballard of Underground Railroad inspired the star studded event and a night of music and celebration for a world without slavery. AAI LAX Regional Directors, Andrea Hobart and Rebekah Vitale attended the event as well as Association of Flight Attendant Representatives Stephen Schembs and Bonnie Mas.
Laura Glading, president of the flight attendant member union, of the new American Airlines as a result of the merger of US Airways and American. Glading was in Philadelphia on Tuesday to meet with some of the 2,300 US Airways flight attendants based at Philadelphia International Airport. (Photo via Association of Professional Flight Attendants)
Thanks to the Association of Professional Flight Attendants for support of our efforts to combat human trafficking!
Click this LINK for statements from Laura Glading, APFA President as part of the APFA State of the Union Report:
See below Laura’s Leadership Statement on the issue:
“As far as criminal activity goes, human trafficking is amongst the most despicable. The perpetrators are modern day slave dealers operating within a vast and global network. Policing this crime is exceptionally difficult, which is why vigilance on the part of all transportation industry employees is crucial. Flight attendants have the ability to catch human traffickers in the act. With more face-to-face exposure time than probably anyone else a trafficker or victim will encounter during the crime, we have a unique opportunity to identify atrocities as they occur. What we need is comprehensive training and increased awareness so that we can play a more effective role in this fight.
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants is committed not only to preparing our membership to recognize and report suspected instances of human trafficking, but also to raise public awareness of the problem. Flight attendants have thwarted these criminals in the past, but putting an end to human trafficking will require a coordinated and sustained effort as well the commitment of the entire transportation industry.”
-Laura Glading, President of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants
Airline Ambassadors is so pleased this year to be chosen as a Combined Federal Campaign Charity # 44822
The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is the largest and most successful workplace fundraising campaign in the world. Over the past fifty years, the CFC has raised $7 billion to help neighbors in need around the corner, across the nation and throughout the world. The Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area (CFCNCA) is the local campaign for federal employees in the Washington Metropolitan Area.
Universal Giving (UG) was launched in 2014 and remains active for the 2015 Campaign. Through UG, federal employees can donate to any CFC-approved charity in the country, in addition to the 4,400 local, national, and international charities that are part of the National Capital Area. If, for example, a charity in Louisville is helping your disabled grandmother stay in her home, you can designate all or part of your CFC donation to that charity in Louisville.No matter what causes federal workers cherish, they can find CFC-participating charities that are meaningful to them.
In 2014, federal employees raised over $49 million – funds that provided promising futures, an improved world, and better communities.
See this welcome from President Obama
