Children in war-torn Yemen are receiving life-saving support from War Child UK, the charity for children affected by conflict, with help from customers of Coyne Airways and Air Charter Service (ACS). The money raised goes towards the charity’s vital work. War Child has recently set up operations in Yemen to provide some of the most vulnerable households with food vouchers.

“The funds contributed by Coyne Airways and ACS are based on Coyne’s idea of a Structured Donation Plan (SDP), which gets companies to make a small donation based on a fixed amount per transaction every time one of their customers makes a purchase from them,” said Larry Coyne, Chief Executive Officer, Coyne Airways. “The SDP is designed to get the freight industry to donate painlessly to good causes particularly those around families and children caught up in war zones. It encourages customers to support donors, is simple to calculate and is probably self-funding by building brand loyalty. Coyne and ACS are hoping to persuade more companies to use the SDP to contribute to good causes like War Child in 2017.”

War Child recently became the first international, humanitarian Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) to be granted a licence to work in Yemen since the start of the conflict two years ago.

“War in Yemen has affected children the most by depriving them of the most basic of rights – the right to be a child,” said Mona Saleh, Response Manager for Yemen, War Child UK. “Cases of malnutrition have rocketed and it looks set to get worse – in a situation where the whole population is struggling to survive, children are always at the back of the queue.War Child is working on the ground to provide some of the most vulnerable households with food vouchers, but this war is far from over and children are bearing the brunt of this conflict.”

War Child has been working in Hajjah, in the north-west of Yemen, and Sanaa, the largest city in Yemen, to reach approximately 6,000 people since it was granted a licence last December.

“We are incredibly grateful to Coyne and ACS. Support like theirs has meant that as soon as we were granted our licence, we could invest in setting up our operations in Yemen to respond to the unfolding humanitarian disaster,” said Rob Williams, Chief Executive Officer, War Child.

Family-run Coyne Airways and ACS launched the initiative to back War Child last autumn, donating one US dollar to the charity from every booking. Customers have the opportunity to match the donation on a quarterly basis and, so far, thousands of dollars have been raised through the programme.