Southwest Airlines is committed to ensuring our Employees, Customers, and communities are prepared for any disasters that come our way. Beyond this commitment, Southwest also extends its support to communities by proactively providing cash and in-kind support to several national and local organizations focused on preparedness, response, and resilience.
Southwest annually supports our national disaster and crisis response partners, including American Red Cross, Team Rubicon, and Feeding America. In the spirit of National Preparedness Month, we want to take this moment to spotlight two additional and invaluable partnerships, Airlink and All Hands and Hearts, dedicated to working on the frontlines to support communities impacted by disaster.
Airlink
Airlink is a global humanitarian organization delivering critical aid to communities in crisis by providing airlift and logistical solutions to nonprofit partners, changing the way the humanitarian community responds to disasters around the world. Since its inception in 2010, Airlink has flown more than 8,000 relief workers and transported nearly 5,000,000 pounds of humanitarian cargo.
"Southwest Airlines' commitment to aiding communities struck by disasters is paramount for Airlink,” said Steve Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer. “After Hurricane Ian, Southwest made a significant impact by enabling swift transport of community-based organizations to Florida. Its annual ticket donations empower our partners to enhance their response capacity, sending more volunteers to where they're needed most. The critical first step in disaster response is getting there, and Southwest makes that possible.”
All Hands and Hearts
Formed in 2005, All Hands and Hearts provides community-inspired, volunteer-powered disaster relief. It communicates with community members and then deploys its unique model of engaging volunteers to enable direct impact, helping to build safer, more resilient schools, homes, and infrastructure.
“The partnership with Southwest has been critical to the success of All Hands and Hearts. Southwest is always eager to help, which enables our teams to quickly respond in time of need to those communities that need us most,” said Jessica Thompson, Chief Executive Officer.
As we navigate the challenges of operating during the unexpected, Southwest is thankful to work alongside organizations like Airlink and All Hands and Hearts to help with recovery efforts in impacted areas across the country.