Donate miles to charity.
Mar 28, 2001 | 8:18 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Irvine,Ca.,USA
Posts: 28
Donate miles to charity.
I am associated with a small charity call Kidsave. They fly Russian orphans to the US to meet potential adoptive families. Last year 98% of the children were adopted. This year they are planning on bringing 300 children to the US. Airfare is their biggest expense. They would like to set up a relationship with an airline so that people could donate frequent flyer miles to them. They don't know to do this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Matt
Thank you,
Matt
Mar 28, 2001 | 9:10 am
#2
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: HAM
Posts: 257
No offence, but wouldn't it be way more efficient to fly those people looking for a child to adopt out to Russia, rather than the other way around? I'm sure that would take care of the funding issue and would also be a lot less stressful than chasing those poor and already miserable kids around the globe to run from one family to another looking for a home. Just my humble opinion...
Mar 28, 2001 | 10:15 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Irvine,Ca.,USA
Posts: 28
They find potential adoptive parents in the US first. The parents read the available childrens history and together with the head of orphanage the children are selected. The children come here to visit and stay with their "parents" for six weeks. That way the children meet their parents and the parents meet their children. If it doesn't work out, the children are moved to another potential adoptive parents.
There are many reasons why this is better. Most people cannot take six weeks off from work to go to Russia. You can get the children checked out medically here. You can see how the child does in this environment. You can see how the child reacts to siblings, your relatives, your friends, your pets, your way of life, etc. The child is different living with you than living in the orphanage and getting visited by you. A child can behave well for a few days but you get to see the real child after six weeks.
There are programs which work the way you describe. This one doesn't. Most do not have a 98% sucess rate. This program is small: 200 children the first year, 250 children the second year and hopefully 300 children this year. But the question I asked is how to hook up with an airline so that people can donate frequent flyer miles to this organization.
Matt
There are many reasons why this is better. Most people cannot take six weeks off from work to go to Russia. You can get the children checked out medically here. You can see how the child does in this environment. You can see how the child reacts to siblings, your relatives, your friends, your pets, your way of life, etc. The child is different living with you than living in the orphanage and getting visited by you. A child can behave well for a few days but you get to see the real child after six weeks.
There are programs which work the way you describe. This one doesn't. Most do not have a 98% sucess rate. This program is small: 200 children the first year, 250 children the second year and hopefully 300 children this year. But the question I asked is how to hook up with an airline so that people can donate frequent flyer miles to this organization.
Matt
Mar 28, 2001 | 10:55 am
#4
Moderator: Hilton Honors, Practical Travel Safety Issues, Information Desk & San Francisco
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: San Francisco CA
Programs: UA, Hilton, Priceline, AirBnB
Posts: 11,319
Originally posted by mattkofsky:
They find potential adoptive parents in the US first. The parents read the available childrens history and together with the head of orphanage the children are selected. The children come here to visit and stay with their "parents" for six weeks. That way the children meet their parents and the parents meet their children. If it doesn't work out, the children are moved to another potential adoptive parents.
There are many reasons why this is better. Most people cannot take six weeks off from work to go to Russia. You can get the children checked out medically here. You can see how the child does in this environment. You can see how the child reacts to siblings, your relatives, your friends, your pets, your way of life, etc. The child is different living with you than living in the orphanage and getting visited by you. A child can behave well for a few days but you get to see the real child after six weeks.
to this organization.
Matt
They find potential adoptive parents in the US first. The parents read the available childrens history and together with the head of orphanage the children are selected. The children come here to visit and stay with their "parents" for six weeks. That way the children meet their parents and the parents meet their children. If it doesn't work out, the children are moved to another potential adoptive parents.
There are many reasons why this is better. Most people cannot take six weeks off from work to go to Russia. You can get the children checked out medically here. You can see how the child does in this environment. You can see how the child reacts to siblings, your relatives, your friends, your pets, your way of life, etc. The child is different living with you than living in the orphanage and getting visited by you. A child can behave well for a few days but you get to see the real child after six weeks.
to this organization.
Matt
Mar 28, 2001 | 2:17 pm
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2000
Programs: UA Million Miler (lite). NY Metro area.
Posts: 15,431
Matt,
Hello and welcome to flyertalk.
Charitable donations always seem to be a sensitive issue here. I don't know why.
Anyway, someone here may be able to help you. These boards are filled with many folks who know the answers.
But while you're waiting, I'd write a letter to the airline public relations dept. You'll probably get the cold shoulder; but, as we all know, if you don't ask, you don't get.
Dan
Hello and welcome to flyertalk.
Charitable donations always seem to be a sensitive issue here. I don't know why.
Anyway, someone here may be able to help you. These boards are filled with many folks who know the answers.
But while you're waiting, I'd write a letter to the airline public relations dept. You'll probably get the cold shoulder; but, as we all know, if you don't ask, you don't get.
Dan
Mar 28, 2001 | 2:54 pm
#7
Join Date: May 2000
Programs: Ozark Airlines--Lifetime Platinum, Braniff---Diamond, Eastern--Plutonium Motel 6--Guest of the Month
Posts: 853
your web page states:
What happens to the kids when the six weeks are up?
At the end of the program, the children must return home to their orphanages with the escorts. Families who wish to adopt will then work with their local agency to complete their paperwork and adopt the child. Kidsave International continues to advocate for all children who havent found families, until they find permanent homes. The time required to complete the adoption will vary depending on how soon parents commit to make the adoption, and how quickly they are able to complete the necessary steps.
So it sounds like you still have to have the parents go over to Russia? This just adds to your expenses doesn't it? Why not just get the airline miles to take the parents over that know they want to adopt? Seems like this would be a little easier to do than bring the children over here for six weeks just to send them back? Or have I read your site incorrectly? It seems that the airlines might be more apt to help fly someone over that was getting a child for sure rather than a child that has to go back.
Just some of my thoughts. I think that anything that will help get the kids out of the orphanages is a great thing.
What happens to the kids when the six weeks are up?
At the end of the program, the children must return home to their orphanages with the escorts. Families who wish to adopt will then work with their local agency to complete their paperwork and adopt the child. Kidsave International continues to advocate for all children who havent found families, until they find permanent homes. The time required to complete the adoption will vary depending on how soon parents commit to make the adoption, and how quickly they are able to complete the necessary steps.
So it sounds like you still have to have the parents go over to Russia? This just adds to your expenses doesn't it? Why not just get the airline miles to take the parents over that know they want to adopt? Seems like this would be a little easier to do than bring the children over here for six weeks just to send them back? Or have I read your site incorrectly? It seems that the airlines might be more apt to help fly someone over that was getting a child for sure rather than a child that has to go back.
Just some of my thoughts. I think that anything that will help get the kids out of the orphanages is a great thing.
Mar 28, 2001 | 2:58 pm
#8
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 140
Since most of the airlines already have arrangements with charities they must have a procedure to go through in an attempt to be an approved charity. I would take the advice of calling Public Relations or Public Affairs at the airlines headquarters.
Mar 30, 2001 | 7:48 am
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Irvine,Ca.,USA
Posts: 28
There seems to be a general lack of knowledge about international adoption. It is a legal process. You must complete the US laws and then you must complete the foreign country laws. You do go to court in the foreign country. There is a period of time that you must have contact with the child before the adoption takes place, that is the law. This period of time varies with the region. Some regions require more than one court date. You get a court date, go to the country and start the process. You go back home. You get another court date, you go back again. It takes between 6 months and 2 years to do an adoption. On the US side, you get investigated by the FBI, INS (takes 8 - 10 weeks), local police, DMV, and a social worker. It is not an easy process. It is an expensive process. No one puts themselves through this and then rejects a child for trivial reasons.
Matt
Matt
Mar 30, 2001 | 7:58 am
#10
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: London, home of the world's favourite airline
Posts: 184
Matt,
I wish to apologise for the attitude some members are showing to you.
Sometimes I feel that obtaining frequent-flyer miles is the only concern some people on this website have. After supposedly working so hard to obtain the frequent-flyer miles, some here find it impossible simply to give them away. The two parallel worlds of take and give seem almost incompatible to some frequent travellers.
Again, my humblest apologies, and I wish you all the best at finding your contacts. They're out there, I'm sure. Kind regards.
[edited for my really bad and embarrassing spelling]
[This message has been edited by dholloway (edited 03-30-2001).]
I wish to apologise for the attitude some members are showing to you.
Sometimes I feel that obtaining frequent-flyer miles is the only concern some people on this website have. After supposedly working so hard to obtain the frequent-flyer miles, some here find it impossible simply to give them away. The two parallel worlds of take and give seem almost incompatible to some frequent travellers.
Again, my humblest apologies, and I wish you all the best at finding your contacts. They're out there, I'm sure. Kind regards.
[edited for my really bad and embarrassing spelling]
[This message has been edited by dholloway (edited 03-30-2001).]
Mar 30, 2001 | 7:58 am
#11
Join Date: Feb 1999
Posts: 1,278
I recall reading in a newspaper last week (sorry, I don't recall which) that of the major US airlines, only Northwest offers special discounted fares to people traveling internationally to adapt a child. It mentioned that NWA recognizes that most of this travel is at the last minute (due to the on-again/off-again nature of int'l adoptions), so it offers a 50% discount off unrestricted fares. The article did not mention how to get the fare.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.