Qantas 2005 Annual Report Download - page 32

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SHARING THE SPIRIT
Qantas has always taken pride in supporting a broad variety
of community and charitable organisations – at national,
State and regional levels.
Sharing the Spirit – Qantas’ community program aimed at
fostering links with charities, sport and arts groups, especially
in regional Australia and among Australia’s youth – achieved
its one-year milestone in February 2005.
The program extends support to the airline’s existing charities
such as CARE Australia, Starlight Children’s Foundation of
Australia, UNICEF, CanTeen and Mission Australia and
introduces new projects and activities for other charity groups.
One key initiative is the Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards (SOYA),
which offers people under 25 the chance to win cash and
air
travel in seven categories: music, writing, visual arts,
film,
industrial and object design, photography and fashion design.
Additional awards in dance and cooking are also provided
and in 2005, a special community award was added to
recognise a young volunteer’s work. Importantly, SOYA
provides mentoring from leading Australian creative figures
such as fashion designer Peter Morrissey, musician Paul Mac,
industrial designer Marc Newson, chef Neil Perry and film
director Gillian Armstrong.
In Sharing the Spirit’s first year, there were more than
80 events including:
x regional tours of The Australian Ballet Dancer’s Company,
Bangarra Dance Theatre and Sydney Dance Company;
x youth workshops and coaching clinics conducted by
Qantas Ambassadors Neil Perry, Peter Morrissey and
Olympic champion Kieren Perkins (OAM); and
x regional coaching clinics in conjunction with the National
Rugby League and the National Basketball League.
The airline’s charity assistance was further demonstrated
through its support of the UNICEF Change for Good
program, with over $1.5 million being raised by Qantas
passengers during 2004.
Qantas was closely involved in assisting the Australian
Government with its relief efforts following the 2004
Boxing Day tsunami. This included operating two special
relief flights, flying in urgently needed medical personnel,
delivering medical and charitable supplies free of charge and
assisting Australians to return home from the affected areas.
Qantas also operated an additional flight to Malaysia to
transport medical teams and supplies and donated the fuel
for an AaE cargo flight to Indonesia.
A donation of $1 million was provided to help tsunami relief
and pre-booked advertising space for newspapers around
the country was donated to charities to raise funds. Qantas
also flew Australian and international cricketers to Melbourne
for a special tsunami relief match.
UNICEF Change for Good envelopes from Qantas flights in
January 2005 were used exclusively for tsunami relief efforts,
raising over $400,000.
As an Official Partner of the Melbourne 2006
Commonwealth Games, Qantas took its support to
Australia’s skies with the launch of a new 737-800 aircraft
emblazoned with the Games logo. The aircraft was named
Karak, after the Games mascot.
Qantas continues to be a sponsor of many of Australia’s
greatest teams including the Qantas Wallabies and Qantas
Socceroos. Qantas is a proud supporter of many different
events and sporting bodies including Tennis Australia,
National Rugby League, Netball Australia, Australian Football
League, Cricket Australia, the Australian Open, the Australian
Formula One Grand Prix and the Australian Olympic Team.
Spirit of Australia
Our communityx
Sharing the Spirit extended the reach of Qantas’ sponsored organisations
to regional Australia