In its third year as a sponsor of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Monograms is inviting travel agents to join with its effort to grant wishes for children with life-threatening medical conditions. Monograms formed a partnership with the non-profit Make-A-Wish Foundation in 2009, with a pledge to provide 10 free vacations per year and to offer discounted travel packages to help the foundation fulfill its mission. Now Monograms is calling on travel agents to donate frequent flier miles to the effort. The foundation needs more than 2.5 billion miles (or 50,000 roundtrip tickets) each year, 50,000 donated miles for one domestic roundtrip ticket or 180,000 miles for one international ticket.

In its three years of working with Make-A-Wish, Monograms has helped to grant more than 50 international travel wishes, worth more than $150,000, including more than 130 Make-A-Wish family members on vacations around the world. Monograms provided a Kentucky teenager named Brianna, who was being treated for thyroid cancer, with a trip to Rome. After the trip, her mother wrote, “I have never seen her happier and we will hold the memories we made in Rome forever in our hearts.”

“It has been a great honor to help grant wishes through the gift of travel,” said Steve Born, vice president of marketing for the Globus family of brands. “We’re so happy to touch and enrich the lives of these brave children around the country, helping foster their already amazing sense of hope, strength and joy.”

 “Many of our wish kids dream of seeing the world,” said David Williams, Make-A-Wish Foundation of America president and chief executive officer. “Monograms is making it easier for us to grant travel-related wishes to kids wanting to travel around the globe and helping us give those children experiences that will change their lives forever.”

The Make-A-Wish Foundation granted more than 13,800 wishes in 2011. More than 70 percent were travel-related wish experiences, including trips to such destinations as New York City, Hawaii and international locales. The most popular travel wishes Monograms’ assisted the Foundation with were for wish trips to Paris and Rome. In a 2011 study of wish impact, most health professionals surveyed said a wish come true can affect health outcomes. Children said wishes give them renewed strength to fight their illnesses, and their parents say these experiences strengthen the entire family.

Based in Phoenix, the Make-A-Wish Foundation is one of the world’s leading children’s charities, serving children in every community in the United States and its territories. With the help of generous donors and more than 25,000 volunteers, the Make-A-Wish Foundation has granted more than 212,000 wishes since its inception in 1980.

Monograms offers pre-packaged independent vacations around the world. Monograms is part of the Globus family of brands, which has more than 80 years of international travel expertise. For more information, call 800-250-7614.