Aeroplan teams up with Free The Children, MusiCounts

Aeroplan has welcomed Free The Children and MusiCounts as its newest founding charitable partners in its Beyond Miles program, launching the partnerships with a donation of one million Aeroplan Miles to each organization. Aeroplan members are now able to donate miles to Free The Children and MusiCounts online at http://www.aeroplan.com/donate . “We are excited to be adding these two organizations that focus on youth and education to our Beyond Miles Program,”says Kevin O’Brien, chief commercial officer, Aeroplan. “Through MusiCounts, members will now be able to donate their miles to a Canadian organization that supports music education in schools across Canada and through Free The Children, members can donate their miles to the world’s largest network of children helping children through education and their youth empowerment program.”Free The Children will use the miles to minimize travel costs associated with We Day, which takes place in almost every major city across Canada, and engages more than 100,000 youth in attendance on some of the most pressing social justice issues of today. The miles will also be used to support its international development activities in eight countries around the world, through which the organization has built more than 650 schools and provides daily education to more than 55,000 children in need. In addition, Aeroplan will have unique items from Free The Children, such as “We Day”tickets and experiential rewards in which members can use their miles. MusiCounts, Canada’s music education charity, will use Aeroplan Miles to help them in their mission to ensure that children in Canada, regardless of socio-economic circumstances, have access to music programs through their schools. MusiCounts includes Band Aid musical instrument grants, the MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award, Scholarships and other music education initiatives.