I was watching Abbott Elementary on the in-flight screen during my flight from Germany to the U.S. We were nearly there when my program was interrupted for a commercial-of-sorts that I wasn’t expecting. My airline has a charitable giving program (I didn’t know this) and they were discussing the work they do with UNICEF to provide food, clean water, and education to children in places where those resources are more difficult to obtain.
The commercial shared that a flight attendant would soon be coming around the perimeter of the plane to accept donations of any size in any currency. The commercial shared what $1, $5, and $10 can provide. And then a flight attendant came down multiple aisles to collect cash in a plastic bag.
I’ve never seen an airline take an offering. I suppose we might more accurately call it a collection, but it felt like the genre of an offering. I imagine that the corporate reasons for doing this are likely self-serving, though I’m sure that airline employees who participate find meaning in it. I also assume with a trusted partner like UNICEF, they do provide in significant ways that make a tangible difference. I threw in some pocket change in dollars and euros.
I’ve never seen this happen anywhere but church services. Apart from the corporate context, which is not my favorite context for charitable giving, I found this intriguing. It made me wonder, what would happen if we had more regular rhythms for taking up spontaneous collections like this? What if this didn’t just happen in church? But just more freewill offerings out in the wild?
Just curious.
— Renee Roederer
Smuggling Grace 
I’ve never seen this on any of my trans-Atlantic flights, but it seems like a great idea on a practical level (and of course a human level). If you’re not a frequent traveler, you probably have a small amount of Euro, koruna, whatever that you will never use and not bother exchanging for dollars. So either it sits on top of your dresser forever or you use it to help kids.
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