Travelers Aid is America’s oldest social welfare
movement, having been in existence since
1851. Travelers Aid volunteers are the front-
line information resource for passengers
traveling through Reagan National and Dulles
International.
They provide direct assistance to customers with
questions about airlines, the airports, ground
transportation, and local tourism. Volunteers also
assist with special events at the airports, such
as with Honor Flights, Make-A-Wish-Foundation
meet and greets, and Wings for All.
Their outstanding 588 volunteers have
helped customers at both Washington Dulles
International and Reagan National airports since
1963. Reagan National has 205 volunteers at five
locations, ranging in age from 16 to 96 years old,
who donated nearly 30,000 hours of their time
to help almost 706,000 airport guests in 2019.
At Dulles International, the 383 volunteers served
more than 42,000 hours, seven days a week, 365
days of the year. They assisted nearly 1.3 million
customers at the 15 locations throughout the
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airport and an additional 1.2 million customers
who arrived on international flights.
Travelers Aid staff members and volunteers do
not only assist customers, but employees and
residents, too, most recently helping to establish
a pantry for furloughed airport employees
and for a local food bank. Volunteers also
participated in various training opportunities
offered by the airport such as CPR, Community
Police Academy, and “AirPrepared” emergency
preparedness training.
In addition to this, Travelers Aid has partnered
with the Airports Authority on several
community programs including Wings for All
(with the Arc of Northern Virginia) and Chantilly
High School STEP program, which expands
employment training for students who have
earned a Special or Modified Standard diplomas.
The work of the staff and volunteers for the
Travelers Aid-Dulles program was recently
recognized by the Committee for Dulles, who
presented the prestigious Tower of Dulles award
to the program. This the first time the award has
been given to a nonprofit organization.