WASHINGTON — Airlink will honor Southwest Airlines and Team Rubicon with their first annual Humanitarian Awards in recognition of their continuous support of Airlink in 2013.
The presentation of the awards will take place during the Airlink session at the ISTAT Americas 2014 Conference, to be held on Monday, March 17, at the San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina in San Diego.
“We would like to recognize both Southwest Airlines and Team Rubicon for their tremendous response to humanitarian crises in 2013,” commented Bob Brown, President of Airlink. “Airlink’s sole mission is to help connect excellent organizations like these to facilitate their humanitarian aid work. The relationships we have established with and between our partners will continue to bear fruit as we collectively respond to humanitarian crises in the future. ”
In 2013, Southwest Airlines supported relief efforts in the aftermath of the tornadoes in Oklahoma, and subsequently during the flooding in Illinois. Thanks to Southwest Airlines, 151 disaster responders were mobilized from numerous origination points in the U.S. into Oklahoma City and Chicago for NGO partner Team Rubicon.
Team Rubicon, which is comprised of hundreds of U.S. military veterans who come together to serve a cause larger than self, has been working with Airlink for two years. During this time, through Airlink, they have provided emergency assistance for disasters that occurred around the U.S., including putting 400 “boots on the ground” after Hurricane Sandy, the tornadoes in Oklahoma and the flooding in Illinois. While executing their mission of “serving veterans by serving others,” Team Rubicon provides aid to those in need during times of humanitarian crisis through teamwork, decisive leadership and rapid development of emergency responders.
Airlink remains committed to helping the aviation community and NGOs utilize air transportation to deliver humanitarian aid across the globe and looks forward to working with Southwest Airlines and Team Rubicon on future missions.
About Team Rubicon
Team Rubicon (TR) unites the skills and experience of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams. TR offers veterans a chance to continue their service by helping and empowering those afflicted by disasters, and also themselves. For more about Team Rubicon, visit www.teamrubiconusa.org.
