Call it a win-win. Or a win-win-win. Or maybe, Miles for Military founder Maureen Byrne concludes, a “win-win-win-win.’’
However you allocate the victories, Byrne’s growing charity is bringing cheer for the holidays through something of an exchange of gift giving. Via the charity, active-duty, junior enlisted military members can clock 25 hours of volunteer work in exchange for a ticket home for the holidays or another important time during the year — tickets that often are prohibitively expensive for young soldiers.
The idea stems from one year when Byrne’s youngest son, then an active-duty Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, was struggling to find any affordable flight home for the holidays. He got there eventually, but some of his buddies from around the country couldn’t afford to spend their leaves with family. The tickets were too expensive.
“It really upset me to think these kids can’t get home,’’ said Byrne, 56, who’s originally from Dorchester and now lives in Braintree. Her first idea was to give people an avenue to donate their airline rewards miles to members of the military. That’s where the name Miles for Military comes from. But that is neither simple nor tax deductible, apparently, she discovered.
So she landed with a feel-good exchange inspired by an instance her son mentioned going off base one weekend to volunteer at a Special Olympics event in Raleigh, N.C.
Her charity, which she runs in collaboration with her family and a friend, began to take off from there. She calls last year the pilot, in which the group paid to fly about 22 military members home for the holidays. This year she’s planning about 100. The goal for next year is 200, and the following year 10,000, if she’s able to keep getting more individual and corporate donations to cover the cost of flights, Byrne said.
She said the charity is meant to have a national reach, flying service members of the ranks of E-1 to E-4 from all branches of the military to wherever home is. And it doesn’t just have to be for the holidays — their catchphrase is “moments that matter,’’ so this year that’s meant time with a sick grandmother.
Byrne said the military members take to volunteer work like fish to water. Many already do it, so they’re happy to keep at it. Others are approaching it for the first time, and come to the charity uncertain at what to do. Her brother often talks to them, suggesting they just think about their own interests, and find something that aligns.
From there comes the “win-win-win-win.’’ The victors are the organizations, who always need more volunteers; the people helped by the organizations; the service members who get plane tickets and a volunteer experience off base; and the families who get to have their loved ones home. “Those are the best,’’ said Byrne with a smile.
Sean Cotter can be reached at sean.cotter@globe.com. Follow him @cotterreporter.
