People have many reasons for flying to destinations around the world: to negotiate a business deal, to visit a relative, to tour a new country, to relax in a warm climate. But Nancy Rivard's reason was perhaps deeper than those: She wanted to search for meaning. She wanted to understand how to build bridges between the developed world and the developing world.
And she did.
Rivard was supervising American Airlines flight attendants when she suddenly lost her father to cancer. She looked up the corporate ladder and determined that it wasn't what her life should be about. But what should it be about? She wanted to know Truth, and she wanted to understand the nature of Reality. And to do that, she decided to become a flight attendant, because "working as a flight attendant would give me the time off and flexibility to pursue my search for Truth."
The search took her everywhere. Rivard lived with the Hopi Indians, adopted a little girl in Sri Lanka, and had spiritual experiences in the Philippines, India, Italy, and parts of the United States. She sought out teachers and advisors in Thailand and Germany. After all this travel, she gave away most of her possessions and moved to a tiny house on Oahu, Hawaii. She immersed herself in deep prayer and meditation, and she realized that she could find what she'd been looking for by helping the less fortunate of the world.
And then she had the idea: Why couldn't the travel industry be used to bring aid and succor to children around the world—poor children, orphaned children, children who needed medical supplies and notebooks and heaters and blankets and clothes? There was plenty of empty space on airplanes, both in empty seats and in cargo holds. It was a natural!
The airlines didn't think so. After many rejections of her ideas, Rivard asked herself, "How am I supposed to make a difference? I'm just a flight attendant." And she answered herself, too: "The best way to teach is by example. You do it, take one jacket to one orphan, escort one child for medical care, and watch what happens."
What happened was the founding of Airline Ambassadors International (AAI). From that initial foray grew a worldwide organization of 6,000 members dedicated to providing humanitarian aid. To date, AAI volunteers have hand-delivered over $50 million of humanitarian aid to orphanages, clinics, and remote villages in 51 countries. They've escorted orphaned children to their new adoptive families and children with medical conditions to hospitals for care they would not otherwise receive—either because their families couldn't afford it or because their home countries didn't offer it. And AAI has started schools, clinics, housing projects, and vocational training programs, positively affecting over 500,000 children.
Rivard's first little step has led to some large strides. Her latest step has identified a connection between human trafficking and air travel; victims often need to be moved around. In 2009, AAI began to train flight and airport personnel in how to recognize and intervene in such situations. Recently, a flight attendant who'd received the training identified two distraught children on a flight; from this tip, authorities uncovered a trafficking ring in Boston and rescued 82 children.
Nancy Rivard is continually searching—for children who need help, and for meaning in her life. By all accounts, she has been successful in both endeavors. As she says, "Stop looking outside for teachers and answers. Look within, find yourself in service, and discover the love that is already within you."