Peter Shankman is a corporate keynote speaker and his job takes him around the world. As he is always traveling, it doesn't take long to rack up thousands upon thousands of air miles.
"The moon is almost 250,000 miles away, and I travel more than that annually," he told the Washington Post.
You'd think with all those airline miles Shankman would take himself on vacation at Christmas. Instead, he gives them away, to people in need during the holidays.
"I can't think of a better way to use [frequent flier] miles," said Shankman.
For five years, Shankman has donated hundreds of thousands of miles to people who can't afford flights but want to be with loved ones during the holidays.
He gives away his miles through contests on Imgur, and Imgur users vote who wins Shankman's miles. Inspired by Shankman, other users donate miles to his contests, too, multiplying the number of miles available to winners.
"I'm happy they want to help. There are a lot of people who can't afford to buy these tickets on their own," he said.
This year, five families will be reunited for the Christmas holidays. The miles awarded totaled 300,000 miles with about 200,000 miles donated by Shankman and the rest by Imgur users.
Sarah Latham, 33, of Texas, was among one of the winners this year. Her grandfather is dying of cancer in New York, and if she didn't visit him this holiday season, she may never see him again. But paying for a flight to New York at Christmas would put her family in debt.
"He's had a long, hard fight, and it's the last opportunity I'd have to see him," Latham said.
Latham's husband entered her in Shankman's contest, and Imgur users voted her one of the five winners.
"I'm happy I won because now I have the opportunity for one last memory," she said. "After my dad died, the relationship I have with my grandfather became even more important than I have words to describe. This is my trip to say goodbye."
The miles will also help a couple fly from Los Angeles to their family in Utah, and send brothers who live in San Diego to North Carolina to spend the holidays with their mother - the first time in years.
One man will fly from Kansas to New Hampshire to surprise his mother who just had a heart attack and his father who is battling skin cancer. Perhaps, the most touching of the stories is that of a woman with Parkinson's disease who will fly to Georgia with her son to place flowers on her other son's grave who passed away 11 years ago.
"People ask me how I verify the stories of people who win the free miles," Shankman said. "And I tell them, 'I can't.' But if someone goes to all this trouble to get a free trip somewhere, maybe this will help them in some way. As long as my miles keep adding up, I'm going to continue to give them away."
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