Houston Flight Attendants raised nearly $19,000 in the 2008 Houston AIDS Walk March 9 as members of the “SWA Luvs Camp Hope” team. Camp Hope is a summer camp where children with HIV can “just be kids” instead of feeling like kids with a fatal disease. Several Southwest Airlines Flight Attendants spend the week as volunteer counselors at the camp.

On June 22, 2007, the Labor and Employee Relations department teamed up with the Dallas Sales office to Share the Spirit at the 2007 Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center’s Annual Fan Drive. Every year the Community Center provides box fans to need based families and senior citizens in the Dallas area. This year, with donations from Employees, Southwest was able to purchase and donate over 175 box fans which were distributed at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center. Way to Kick Tail!

SWA Finance and Corporate Communications MOWers (stands for Meals on Wheelers) delivered these coolers on wheels (generously donated by Rubbermaid) to the Visiting Nurses Assocation Meals On Wheels. Southwest Maintenance Employees got into the act by developing the stickers on the ice chests out of the same long-lasting adhesive stickers they use on the airplanes.

In addition to Employees at the local Meals On Wheels office,VNA Director of Volunteers Betsy Cox, VNA Director of Public Relations Robert Smith, and VNA President and CEO Robert Carpenter were there to accept the Coolers on Wheels from the Southwest MOWers.

Southwest Airlines and the North Texas Food Bank partnered to bring relief to the Hurricane Ike-ravaged Houston area. The airline, which was flying more than 100 employees to relieve workers at Hobby Airport, also transport ed 345 emergency food boxes, totaling over 10, 500 pounds, for the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) on the plane as well. The special flight departed from Love Field on Tues. Sept. 16 at 6:30 am. The food boxes were taken to the Houston Food Bank for distribution to families in need as they recover from Hurricane Ike. If you would like to help the North Texas Food Bank, which is providing the majority of the food being delivered into the hurricane-ravaged area, go to NTFB.org to make a donation.

Southwest Airlines partnered with the Texas Rangers and Salvation Army to serve lunch to 140 children staying in the Dallas Convention Center because of Hurricane Ike. The Texas Rangers players help serve lunch and visited with families and they put on an entertaining program for the children. Southwest Employees who volunteered found it very fulfilling to play a small part in an important effort to uplift the spirits of those who have lost so much.

As a part of its Share the Spirit initiative, Southwest partnered with the USO and its OPERATION PHONE HOME program to provide phone cards for the troops. Through the USO website, Southwest Employees donated more than $50,000, which translates into a million units of call time for the troops!

Also, hundreds of Southwest Airlines Employees lined the runway gate near Southwest’s headquarters in a send-off for a U.S. Navy Cargo truck carrying the LUV Rations goodie bags for more than 1,000 U.S. troops overseas on August 3rd. This is the final step of a month long program to raise support for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The goodie bags contained much-needed items donated by Southwest Employees as part of a companywide Share the Spirit supply drive. For the past month, Southwest Employees donated goods such as toiletries, socks, sunscreen, candy, and powdered drink mix at each of its 63 locations across the nation. The donated items were packaged into individual goodie bags with handwritten postcards inside for the soldiers. Since many of Southwest’s Employees have served, or are currently serving in the military, this project is close to home.

Southwest Airlines has raised more than $100,000 for the annual Parkland Burn Camp during the past 12 years, making it possible for hundreds of children to interact with others who have been burned, and to know they are not alone in their struggles. Parkland Burn Camp is sponsored by Parkland Memorial Hospital and is titled Camp I-Thonka-Chi, which is Choctaw for "a place that makes one strong or fearless, not afraid to face life." Camp I-Thonka-Chi began in 1993 as a mentor program for pediatric burn victims between the ages of 7-17. Its goal is to provide a safe-haven where children can be amongst their peers, helping each other heal physically as well as mentally. The camp gives children the opportunity to be surrounded by people who know exactly what they are going through and attempts to build their self-esteem through confidence-building activities. Adult burn victims serve as volunteer counselors to assist the Parkland Burn Center staff.

Each year, 50 Southwest Employees volunteer to help check in the children for camp as if they were boarding a plane. The Employees then go to the camp later in the week to host a party filled with food and games for the campers. The weeklong camp costs more than $85,000, and Southwest Employees raise a portion of that through donations and Employee raffles.