How to help

Your donation of your Aeroplan Miles will help us, and help our partners, continue the important work we're doing for children in need. It only takes a moment, and the difference your miles will make may be the gift of a lifetime for a child and their family. Please help us continue to work in our community, and internationally, to better the lives of our most vital resource, our children.

In 2009, more than 12 million Aeroplan miles were donated and used by pediatric hospitals across Canada to help sick children get the medical care they needed.  Thank you! Aeroplan members for your incredible generosity.

Air Canada Kids' Horizons Hospital Transportation Program

Through the Air Canada Kids' Horizons Hospital Transportation Program, Air Canada helps children reach medical care not available in their communities.

The Kids' Horizons Hospital Transportation Program provides Aeroplan Miles to 15 pediatric hospitals across Canada enabling children to access specialized medical treatment not always available locally. Providing thousands of airline seats each year is just one of the ways that Kids' Horizons, in partnership with Aeroplan Beyond Miles, is making a real difference in the lives of families across Canada and now from international destinations. As Canada's leading airline, we're able to play a valuable role in alleviating the travel costs often associated with illness.

Every mile donated to Air Canada Kids' Horizons brings a child one step closer to recovery. Here are two perfect examples: Nicolas Maheux was presented with our highest honor, the Air Canada Kids' Horizons Wings of Courage honorary pilot certificate & medal recognizing his courage fighting illness at one of Opérations Enfant Soleil Telethon.

Nicolas is a young boy from Bagotville, Québec. He won his battle against leukemia. The Hospital Transportation Program allowed him, and his mother, to fly to Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montréal many times to obtain the life saving medical treatment that was not available in his community.

Son Pham's story

Air Canada Kids' Horizons supports the efforts of the Children's Bridge Foundation by providing transportation to a sick child named Son Pham and a parent. Here is his story related by Olwyn Walter, Past President of the Children's Bridge Foundation and foster mother of Son.

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A million miles-a new life for Son Pham.
Olwyn Walter - February 12, 2009

Halifax-A few days after major surgery at the Children's Hospital in Boston, 12 year old Son Pham looked at his face in a hospital mirror and saw a difference. "It's smaller!" he said.

His observation prompted tears of joy from his Canadian foster mother Olwyn Walter.

"It's wonderful that enough of the growth is gone so that he can see the beautiful boy we all see when we look at him." Walter said.

Son Pham has lived in Halifax with Walter, her husband Alan and their two daughters for the past year. Every six weeks she or her husband travels with Son to Boston for surgery, or a treatment called sclerotherapy.

'We couldn't have done this without the generous support from Air Canada through the Hospital Transportation Program of Kids' Horizons," said Gail Carruthers, President of the Children's Bridge Foundation. The Foundation is a national charity, based in Ottawa that represents 4,000 Canadian families who have adopted children overseas. It was founded by parents who wanted to give back to their children's home countries.

A year ago representatives from the Children's Bridge Foundation approached Air Canada to see if the company would provide promotional tickets or Aeroplan miles for Son Pham, and a caregiver to travel with him to Boston for life-saving treatment.

Without hesitation, the response was "Yes."

Kate Maslen, the woman who first discovered Son Pham at a Vietnamese orphanage in 2006 was at the meeting with Air Canada.

"I hope people consider donating their Aeroplan miles to the Kids' Horizons program because it changes children's lives. And gives them access to care, that might not be financially possible." said Maslen.

Son Pham's travel costs are being covered by Air Canada's Kids Horizons Program. To date the company has donated one million miles to help Son Pham.

"A million miles, it's such a huge number," said Gail Carruthers. "Air Canada is a remarkable company, because they have helped us and helped Son at the same time."

Son was born in Vietnam, and was living at the Hai Duong orphanage when representatives from the Children's Bridge Foundation visited the facility in 2006. Foundation Manager, Kate Maslen, saw the boy standing behind a group of children. He was trying to hide a large vascular malformation on the left side of his face.

After the visit, Son sent a note to Maslen with one line, reading: "Aunt Kate, please help me."

Maslen and volunteers at the Children's Bridge Foundation raised over $200,000 to bring Son to Canada for medical care. But it turned out the funds were not enough, Air Canada pitched in to cover the travel costs to Boston where he is being treated by some of the best vascular surgeons in the United States.

"It makes me feel like a somebody," Son Pham said this week. His foster mother Olwyn Walter says even though he is still a boy, he is beginning to understand how many people have helped him reach this point.

"I have a lot of friends," Son Pham said. He has many new friends in Halifax and friends he he's never met across the country who have donated their Aeroplan miles, and money to make his care possible.

- Olwyn Walter is the Past President of the Children's Bridge Foundation and Foster Mother of Son Pham.