Second aid flight sets off for East Africa

Thanks to the support of thousands of PAYBACK customers, aid organisation “Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen / Wings of Help” is now able to send its second aid flight to Nairobi. Members of the loyalty programme passed up the chance to receive bonuses or vouchers and instead donated their points to the special “Flug gegen den Hunger” (flying to stop hunger) initiative. As a result, Lufthansa Cargo will soon be transporting 60 tonnes of aid to East Africa in a second shipment. The first shipment was made possible by a spontaneous campaign initiated by the PAYBACK partner companies that raised 200,000 euros for an aid flight. The second flight will leave Frankfurt during the night of 20/21 September.

“We are delighted that PAYBACK customers are continuing our initiative with such great commitment. Every single point helps and is important,” says Professor Erich Greipl, a Director of the Otto Beisheim Group and Otto Beisheim Holding, in his role as representative of the PAYBACK partners. “We are taking food, tents, blankets and medical supplies to Nairobi and are very grateful to both the PAYBACK partner companies and PAYBACK customers. They have made these two aid flights possible,” says Frank Franke, President of Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen / Wings of Help.

PAYBACK members have already used the donation platform www.payback.de/spendenwelt to donate points worth 387,000 euros for East Africa, 100,000 euros of this for the “Flug gegen den Hunger” project.

The hunger crisis in East Africa is getting worse by the day. Tens of thousands of people are already starving, more than half of these children. The worst is still to come. Across the various countries affected, more than 12 million people currently depend on food provided by aid organisations. The crisis is threatening around 3.7 million people in Somalia alone.

Following the dry season, the start of the rainy season now represents a risk to the health of people in East Africa who are already weak from hunger. Franke therefore hopes that aid projects such as PAYBACK's donation campaign will be copied by other organisations. “We cannot totally prevent the disaster, but we can help to save a great many lives. The more donations and resources we can collect, the more effective we will be in easing the suffering of the poorest of the poor in East Africa,” he stresses.

A child currently dies of starvation every five minutes, yet it takes just 50 euros to feed a child for a whole month. The aid organisation is therefore calling for further donations. Local food supplies are dwindling by the day, and aid shipments from other countries are often the only effective alternative.

Account for donations to Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen / Wings of Help:
“Flug gegen den Hunger”
Frankfurter Sparkasse
Account no.: 200 33 22 44
Sort code: 500 502 01

Or donate PAYBACK points at
www.payback.de/spendenwelt