During the holidays, the best comes out in people. Many want to give to others, whether they know them or not. Donating during the holiday season grows year after year, even if the economy isn’t doing so well. People still want to give back. On Giving Tuesday, contributions increased to be almost $2.75 million. You might think how you can give back this holiday season to those who really need it. A unique donation would be to reunite a family during the holiday season. How do you do this? Traveling.
If you are a avid traveler, you probably have earned a good amount of rewards miles. No matter if you are traveling for work or pleasure, you can earn reward miles every time you fly. Donating your frequent flier miles can help people in need, fly home for the holidays. Peter Shankman has been donating his rewards miles for the past five years. Peter enjoys giving back to the community around him. Peter shares a contest on Imgur and people who need help getting home for the holidays can go on and post about wanting to go home. Imgur users then take the time to vote, to see who can visit there family. Peter is not the only one using his flier miles for this project.
This year Shankman donated around 200,000 of his miles and other fliers donated another 100,000 on top of that. Shankman doesn’t do this for the publicity, he just wants to be able to give back to those who need it. Along with his travel points donations, Peter donates his time to help children and adults with ADHD. You may not be able to donate 200,000 points but anything can help, especially if enough people help.
The more generous people, willing to share their miles, can help families enjoy their holidays together. Instead of planning a random trip to make sure you use your points before they expire, think about donating them. You still get to enjoy your own travel to accumulate these points and then do something good with your earnings. Keep up your traveling this year so when the time comes, you can donate some of your reward points!