Amstelveen – 2005-22-12

Starting January 1, 2006, KLM AirCares will support Save a Child's Heart in Israel (http://www.saveachildsheart.com). The organization, which provides cardiac surgery and additional help to children, is a truly cross-border effort. One of every three children is Palestinian. All told, the group helps children in twenty countries, including Iraq, Ethiopia, and Tanzania.

The organization works with the help of 70 volunteers and, each year, helps about 200 children with heart problems. These people also provide post-operative assistance, social and psychological care, and training to cardiologists in the countries where they offer service.

In addition to an initial donation of EUR10,000 and its standard promotion and support for fundraising, KLM has started a campaign in which visitors to www.klmholidaywishes.com/en can download a Christmas card, which they can send to friends or family. For each card that gets downloaded, KLM will donate ten Flying Blue miles to Save a Child's Heart. Sometime around Valentine's Day, KLM will carry out a similar campaign for the Israeli organization.

KLM AirCares (www.aircares.nl) is KLM's charitable organization. Four times a year, AirCares supports a different international organization providing long-term assistance to underprivileged children. KLM does this through its own donations and by stimulating all the channels at its disposal to contribute money or Flying Blue miles from its customers and staff. The charitable organizations can then use the miles for their own travel needs.

In the Netherlands, Save a Child's Heart is supported by KidsRights, ICCO and Wilde Ganzen, all of which have promised to triple KLM AirCares monetary donations.

 

For more information:
KLM Media Relations, Bart Koster, + 31 20 649 45 45.
Save a Child's Heart, Simon Fischer (Executive Director), + 972 52 86 69 449.