MANILA, Philippines — Leading budget airline Cebu Pacific re-affirms its partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as donations collected through the company’s Change for Good initiative were used to implement health and nutrition development projects in rural communities in Northern Samar, Zamboanga, and Maguindanao.
Together with UNICEF celebrity advocate for children Anne Curtis and local rural health workers, volunteers from the Cebu Pacific cabin crew visited Bobon, Northern Samar—one of the beneficiary-areas of donations collected from Cebu Pacific passengers through the Change for Good initiative.
During the site visit in Bobon, Curtis and the CEB cabin crew joined UNICEF and local government staff in giving prenatal, immunization and nutrition services to mothers and children. Bobon is one of the areas in the Philippines with the highest rates of stunting—an irreversible condition that prevents children from growing, learning, and earning in the future.
“Cebu Pacific reaffirms its commitment to our partnership with UNICEF and the Change for Good initiative. We thank our passengers for the continued generosity and to our cabin crew and personnel who ensure that this meaningful program runs smoothly on all of our flights out of our Manila, Cebu and Iloilo hubs. We hope we can continue to find ways to give back to the community, to our stakeholders and our customers,” said JR Mantaring, Cebu Pacific vice president for corporate affairs.
Change for Good is a partnership between UNICEF and the international airline industry, designed to collect coins of various currencies from travelers and use these to pool funds for life-saving materials and programs. To date, Change for Good has reached millions of undernourished children in over 150 countries. Launched in the Philippines last year, Cebu Pacific is the first and only partner of UNICEF for this innovative initiative in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.