Share the Spirit

Free time is a valuable commodity for our hardworking Southwest Employees. So, the time and energy that many of our Employees selflessly give to make a positive difference in our communities is truly inspiring and praiseworthy. In order to celebrate these countless acts of kindness demonstrated by our Coworkers, the Volunteers of LUV Award was created. From hundreds of worthy nominations, 25 individual winners and one group winner who Share the Spirit by volunteering were selected to be honored at the Third Annual Volunteers of LUV celebration held at Headquarters on April 29, 2009.

The 2009 Volunteers of LUV Recipients: The (Finance) AP Stewpot Hotties (Sr. Associate Cindy Allee, Analyst Lupe Amaya, Manager Michael Clark, Sr. Associate Chani Dority, Sr. Associate Stella Fryer, Associate Sandra Glenn, Sr. Associate Elizabeth Gutierrez, Sr. Associate Carolyn Hawkins, Sr. Sup Susie Jones, Sr. Associate Joan Logan, Associate Tig Melesse, Sr. Associate Yolanda Nava, Associate Feri Nouri, Associate Esther Randle, Sr. Associate Antoinette Thompson, Associate Gwen Walton, Associate Cona Wende, Specialist Lashonda Wilson, and Associate Stephanie Smith); San Antonio Center Admin Mary Adair; BWI Flight Attendant Kari Anderson; BUR Ops Agent Jennifer Jauregui-Burklow; PHX Center Support Leader Christal Campbell; TUL Customer Service Sup Peg Cass; Director Employee Communications Katie Coldwell; Technology Sr. Analyst Richard Eick; BNA Ops Sup Kevin Golding; DAL First Officer Gary Hooyman; Revenue Management Analyst Melissa McKenty; HOU Flight Attendant Ange Mertens; PHX First Officer Tim Neumann; HOU Flight Attendant Jessica Parker; Technology Sr. Analyst Pat Rodriguez; Flight Ops Sr. Coordinator Glo Schaffer; PHX Provisioning Agent Jadira Simmons; HOU Shop Mechanic Eldon Slaughter; San Antonio Center Customer Rep Coetta Smith; PHX Captain Steve Vaught; MCO Customer Service Agent Linda Vickers; DAL Captain Patrick Ware; LAS Ops Sup Cathy Wescott; PHX Maintenance Analyst Jim Wilhelmsen; Rapid Rewards Sr. Associate Elidia Cortez Wharton;Oklahoma Center Team Leader Jeannie Wolf

When “the Airline that LUV built” adopted “the house that Love Built” in 1985 as its primary corporate charity, the Employees of Southwest fell in LUV. Southwest’s dedication to the Ronald McDonald House has grown as rapidly as the airline itself as Employees coast to coast regularly host dinners at the houses, and twice a year, in June and November, the airline sponsors dinners at houses in every city Southwest serves. The airline even has two golf tournaments, one in Phoenix and one in Dallas, which benefit the Ronald McDonald Houses.

Southwest Airlines has even dedicated a signature aircraft, “The Spirit of Hope,” in honor of the 30th birthday of the first Ronald McDonald House several years ago. The special Southwest jet features original overhead bin artwork created by children from Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC^®) of Western Washington. The overhead bin doors inside the aircraft’s cabin are uniquely embossed with brightly-colored crayon drawings of happy hearts, brilliant rainbows, oversized flowers, and smiling faces.

Southwest’s interest in the Ronald McDonald House program was initiated in 1983 by one of the Company’s pilots, Dick East. Following the loss of his daughter to leukemia, East began volunteering at houses in cities to which he flew. East recruited his coworkers to join him and introduced Southwest Airlines’ leadership to the organization, and a relationship blossomed.

Southwest Employees celebrated our new service to New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) with a community service project. Our first flights took off Sunday, June 28 and that afternoon a group of Southwest Employees departed the airport for a volunteer effort at nearby Flushing Meadows Park. They spent the afternoon painting park benches, cleaning up litter, and beautifying the area. The project demonstrated Southwest’s commitment to make each city we serve a better place to live and work.

Southwest Airlines threw a party for fifty-five WWII Veterans as they departed Dallas Love Field on Veteran’s Day to visit the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C. Southwest Airlines Employees and Customers gathered in the gate area to enjoy breakfast and celebrate these Veterans. We had red, white, and blue balloons and goodie bags for the special Customers. Before the Veterans boarded the plane, the entire gate area sang the national anthem and God Bless America.

This Memorial Day, Southwest Airlines proudly became the Official Commercial Airline of The Honor Flight Network. Honor Flight’s priority and passion is to transport the Veterans of any conflict (with a terminal illness) who would like to visit their individual memorial; with their primary and most urgent focus being the Nation’s most senior Veterans, the survivors of WWII. Along with the grassroots efforts of various Ground Crews honoring our Veterans during these flights, this multi-year commitment will help Honor Flight to accomplish its goals in a more expeditious manner.

Project: SAVE – a company-wide Southwest Airlines Spring Share the Spirit volunteer initiative—brought community service and the environment together.

During the months of March and April, Southwest encouraged Employees to Share the Spirit by volunteering in ways that helped improve their local environment. “Going green” is not only good for our planet, but it is also FUN. Southwest Employees planted trees and gardens; cleaned up community parks, beaches and trails; collected trash around the airports; initiated recycling programs; and lead “green” activities at local schools. Hundreds of Employees donated thousands of hours to their communities on behalf of Southwest Airlines through the project.

Last April, more than 100 Southwest Airlines Share the Spirit Employee Volunteers helped the city and Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles with an initiative called Million Trees LA. The goal of this initiative is to physically plant a million trees throughout the city of LA over the next several years. Our goal for that day was to plant 50 trees, and in the end Southwest helped support the planting of nearly 70 trees!

The concept which is based on the idea that more trees in an area can help create a canopy effect for the city. The canopy effect keeps the city cooler by providing shade, reducing energy consumption, and increasing water retention in the city. The benefits from this project will be reaped for generations for years to come.