By Shaunta Hyde, Managing Director of Community Relations, Alaska Airlines

As we all take time to celebrate the holiday season with friends and family, I wanted to say thank you to our Mileage Plan members who consistently donate their miles to help support the communities we serve. Your generosity, commitment and support for organizations like Angel Flight West, Children’s Hospital, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Foundation and our other charitable partners raised approximately 43 million miles in 2013, and we are well on our way to reaching this goal in 2014. This is just plain amazing!

It is with that spirit in mind that Alaska Airlines is making a donation of one million Mileage Plan miles to Medical Teams International (MTI) on behalf of our frequent fliers as a small way to say thank you and happy holidays.

If you’d like to help, you can make a donation of your own through our Charity Miles program.

MTI provides critical help to people who are suffering all over the world through humanitarian and medical aid. MTI provides medical and dental care, disaster relief and development assistance in many of the world’s most at-risk communities. Just this week, they have teams working to provide mobile dental clinics in Oregon and Washington, a community impact team working in Guatemala and medical and physical therapy teams serving in Haiti.

For 35 years, MTI has responded to disasters around the world—and here at home—by sending teams of volunteer medical professionals and medical supplies to care for the sick and injured. And sustainability is central to MTI’s mission. They mobilize long-term, health promotion initiatives and collaborate with established partners in the communities they serve to ensure their work continues to have impact.

Helping people is what the holidays are all about. That’s why we’re proud to make this gift that will increase the efficiency and expediency of MTI relief teams. One million miles will enable MTI to reduce travel costs and focus the organization’s resources on programs that directly support communities in need, like providing clean drinking water and medical services.

Supporting organizations like MTI, especially on behalf of our Mileage Plan members, is just one of the ways we are giving back to the communities we serve.

Thank you for flying with us and for helping us help those in need.

Happy holidays!