Rotary International's Rotary Miles program bridged the oceanic and monetary gap for the family, providing free tickets through United Airline's Mileage Plus program. Karen Lavin, a member of the Rotary Club of McHenry, Ill., USA, and chairwoman of the Gift of Life joint committee for Districts 6440 and 6450, solicited donations of miles within her districts.

Olha's surgery was a success, and she is now back in Ukraine with her family. Meanwhile, Lavin and fellow Rotarians continue to work to bring more children to the United States for heart surgery. A boy from Honduras will be the sixth child this year whom the group has helped through the Rotary Miles program. Lavin urges everyone to donate.

"I got a huge response both in and out of the districts," says Lavin, who appealed to Rotarians in district newsletters and visited clubs to distribute donation forms. "Someone even called from California to donate his miles. He had heard about the program from his Rotarian brother."

Robert Mintz, RI Travel Services manager, started Rotary Miles in 1998 as a way for both Rotarians and non-Rotarians to give to the organization.

Through United Airline's Charity Miles program, people can donate 1,000 or more of their Mileage Plus miles for use in the Rotary Volunteers program.

For example, Rotaplast Inter-national uses the miles to fly doctors around the world to perform cleft palate surgeries.

An alternative to donating miles directly to RI is gathering miles with-in a club or district, as Lavin did, and earmarking them for a project. RI coordinates these efforts and arranges for the tickets. Clubs have used this option for a variety of causes, including flying Rotarians from abroad to the United States for conferences. Although more than a million miles have been donated by hundreds of Rotarians, most Rotarians, according to Mintz, still don't know about the program.

"There has been a steady growth of the Rotary Miles program, but it has been mostly through word of mouth," says Mintz, a member of the Rotary Club of Long Grove, Ill. "The people aware of the program keep donating. We have received large donations from Rotary senior leaders after their years of service." "We can always use more miles," she says.