November 20, 2007

East Meets West Foundation Honors Southwest Airlines for its support of EMW’s Operation Healthy Heart Program

HO CHI MINH CITY—October 31, 2007—The East Meets West Foundation (EMW) held a special recognition ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2007 in Ho Chi Minh City for Southwest Airlines in recognition of their year-long support for EMW’s Operation Healthy Heart (OHH) program.  Southwest Airline’s campaign, Giving LUV, Saving Lives, enables EMW to redirect resources otherwise used for domestic airfare expenditures, in addition to helping with EMW’s efforts to help fund at least 10 children’s heart surgeries in Vietnam.

The ceremony took place at the Tam Duc Hospital in Phu My Hung District and included speeches by the U.S. Consul General to Vietnam, Kenneth Fairfax; Southwest Airline representatives; local officials; OHH recipients and their parents; and hospital representatives.  In addition, the Southwest representatives, who traveled from the United States, met the 10 children whose lives were saved by the airline’s support and presented them with gifts. 

"Southwest Airlines is known for Sharing the Spirit and when we saw the needs of these children, we felt compelled to help save their lives with our partners East Meets West,” said Kim Delevett, Southwest Spokesperson.  “Many of the communities we serve have families and ties to Vietnam, and our LUV and caring hearts don’t stop at our borders.”

Since 1994 OHH has provided life-saving financial assistance for critical heart surgeries and interventions to over 1,200 children in Vietnam, and is currently active in more than 20 provinces.  EMW presently funds 40 percent of pediatric heart surgeries carried out at Hue General Hospital and 10 percent of all pediatric heart surgeries performed in Vietnam.

“East Meets West is proud to partner with Southwest Airlines on the Giving LUV, Saving Lives Campaign,” said John Anner, EMW’s Executive Director.  “Together, we hope to save the lives of children throughout all of Vietnam who suffer from congenital heart defects so that they can become healthy, productive members of society and contribute to Vietnam’s future development."

About Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines is one of the most honored airlines in the world.  For eight years in a row, Southwest Airlines was named to Business Ethics magazine’s list as one of America’s “100 Best Corporate Citizens” for excelling at serving a variety of stakeholders and for leadership roles in corporate citizenship. In September of 2007, Southwest Airlines ranked in the top 100, number 31 to be exact, on the 2007 InformationWeek 500, an annual listing that honors the most innovative business technology organizations.  And, for an impressive eleven consecutive years, FORTUNE magazine recognized Southwest Airlines as number five among America’s Top Ten most admired corporations.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), the nation's largest carrier in terms of domestic passengers enplaned, currently serves 64 cities in 32 states.  Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,300 flights a day and has more than 33,000 Employees nationwide. 

 

Read Southwest Airlines's represenative Kim Delevett's blog entries about her recent trip to Vietnam to tour the OHH program and celebrate the EMW and SWA partnership.