Friends For Change
Becoming friends was easy for Continental International Flight Attendants David Leong and Bonny Roualet, so the two decided to set up their own nonprofit group called Flights for Change . “I had just returned from a trip to deliver donated clothing and necessities to an orphanage in Ethiopia,” Roualet says. “I knew I wanted to start doing my own delivery trips, and I knew my friend David would be the perfect person to help get things started.”
Flights for Change is a charitable organization that delivers essential goods to children in need around the world. “We collect clothes, medical supplies, craft supplies, and some toys, but we focus on the basic necessities,” Leong says. The group currently delivers donations to an orphanage in Ethiopia and a school in Guatemala. “All the kids at the AHOPE orphanage in Ethiopia are HIV-positive, and my heart has a special place for the HIV/AIDS cause,” adds Leong.
Family and friends donate needed items, and Leong also knits red scarves to sell at Christmastime. In 2008 he raised $1,800 from selling the scarves, funds that will go to the kids this growing organization supports.
Roualet and Leong share their stories with their Continental co-workers, and several have volunteered to help. “We have some co-workers who do the deliveries with us, and others donate space in their houses to store the donations,” Roualet says. Others contribute their creative talents to the group's Web site, which is in development.
At the Los Niños de Guatemala school, the kids actually helped with the fundraising, giving Christmas trees that they had made to Roualet, who took them from Guatemala to sell in Amsterdam . The funds raised went back to the school.
Both Leong and Roualet have been shocked at the amount of poverty they have seen while traveling, and wantto do all they can to help. “I think it's important for my generation [twentysomethings] to realize how important it is to think of others,” says Leong, who hopes his example will inspire others to give back to their communities.
The two friends have made many new friends through the special relationships they've developed with kids in Ethiopia and Guatemala. Roualet recognizes the importance of even the smallest act of kindness. “When I look in the eyes and see the innocence and hope in all these kids, especially those who are HIV- positive, it makes every trip worth while.”
– Lora O'Riordan
Continental First Officer Joe Wells , a Boeing 777 pilot based in Newark, has earned a unique distinction. Wells was recently promoted to brigadier general of the Georgia Army National Guard, becoming the first African-American in the unit's 276-year history to achieve that rank.
Wells originally enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1975, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Georgia Army National Guard in 1982. “This is truly an honor. I'm overwhelmed,” says Wells, who credits his family and friends with giving him the support he needed to reach this level.
Wells is currently assigned to Fort Huachuca, Ariz., serving as the deputy command general of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center. – L.O.
