Change for Good wheels into Shannon

UNICEF Ireland and Aer Lingus’ Change for Good cycle wheeled into Shannon at the weekend as part of a trip that will see it visiting the airline’s largest bases in Cork, Belfast and Dublin as well as Shannon Airport.
Marking the 15th anniversary of the campaign, which has already raised $15 million for children around the world, the cycle is being undertaken by Brian Rutter of Aer Lingus’ cabin crew.
“While I’m cycling across the country, the Change For Good campaign is being extended and will run right through until June 1,” explained Brian. “Normally, we would collect spare change from people on international flights only but for this week, we’ll be collecting on every Aer Lingus flight. So please, if you are on one of our flights, please give generously.”
Brian was one of a group of Aer Lingus, UNICEF Ireland ambassadors who visited Zambia in February of this year to see how the money raised was changing lives there.
As a keen photographer, Brian took a number of pictures, which have now been put on display at Dublin Airport’s Terminal 2.
Aer Lingus CEO Christoph Mueller commented, “We are delighted to be celebrating this remarkable milestone of our 15th year in partnership with The Change for Good campaign. We would like to acknowledge the generosity of Aer Lingus customers in supporting the UNICEF campaign on board flights. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our cabin crew who have made a massive contribution to this achievement.”
Brian’s route saw him starting from Dublin on May 24 and visiting Kilkenny, Cork, Shannon, Athlone, Monaghan, Belfast, Dundalk on each subsequent day, arriving back in Dublin on June 1.
“Of course, the fact that Change for Good has raised a million dollars a year for each of the 15 years it has been operating so far, shows how well it has worked. We’re delighted with it and the exhibition demonstrates that the outcomes are equally remarkable,” explained Peter Power, CEO, UNICEF Ireland.