Memorial Day "Hero Miles" Challenge
June 1, 2007 by Toby Getsch
3.5 million miles. 174 trips.
So what? I’ll tell you what! Read on…
Sometimes things happen that make us very proud to be associated with certain people or organizations. This past weekend was extended because we have a national holiday, Memorial Day. That day is set aside to commemorate those who have given their lives in service to our country. That by itself is enough to be proud of those people. Very proud. But what does that have to do with 3.5 million miles and 174 trips?
Sometimes things happen that make us proud to know that we work with some special people. My employer, ECG Management Consultants did something special over the weekend. This makes me proud.
Because ECG is a national consulting company, there is a lot of travel involved. I don’t personally have to travel (yet) but the majority of our consultants spend more than half their time on the road. Many people have (well, actually - had - but more on that in a minute) thousands of frequent flier miles. Hero Miles is a program by Fisher House that provides tickets for flights to hospitalized service members and their families. The Hero Miles program encourages people to donate frequent flier miles towards this cause. During this past Memorial Day weekend, many major airlines joined together with the Hero Miles program to match miles donated by individuals, thus making the miles go much further.
Further wasn’t enough. With one well thought out email, Earl Brigham, a Principal at ECG, inspired us to donate to Hero Miles during this time. However, he went further (and farther) - plus 550,000 miles. Yes, that’s right, 550,000 miles! That’s how many frequent flier miles he ‘had’ before this past weekend. (Yes, he travels a lot.) He challenged ECG to donate 1 million miles, and if we did, he would donate all of his miles.
ECG responded. Prior to Earl’s matching donation, the total was 1,188,147! (His gratitude filled email used 5 exclamation points. I agree!!!!!)
…when matched by the airlines will equal almost 3.5 million miles or 174 trips for those who certainly can use them more than we can.
Wow. 3.5 million miles. 174 trips.
Although this matching + matching incentive has ended, you can still donate!
Hero Miles - How to Donate Miles
