ANAHEIM, Calif., June 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, June 19, United Airlines employees reached a milestone of 1 million meals packed for charity partner Rise Against Hunger, a global non-profit, working to end hunger by providing food and life-changing aid to the world's most vulnerable and create a global commitment to mobilize critical resources. The millionth meal was packed during the airline's annual sales conference in Anaheim, Calif. this week. This achievement is part of United's commitment to global community engagement as well as lifting up communities in crisis after disaster.

"Packing 1 million meals is a monumental milestone and as a global airline we are thrilled to partner with Rise Against Hunger to make an impact in communities in need across the world," said Jake Cefolia, United's senior vice president of worldwide sales. "Our annual sales conference brought together more than 800 United team members from 53 countries, providing us with an incredible opportunity for an impactful service project."

During the packing event, United employees assembled 100,000 meals to reach the goal of 1 million meals packed by the airline in partnership with Rise Against Hunger. The meal packs included enriched rice, soy protein, dried vegetables and 23 essential vitamins and nutrients to provide a comprehensive array of micronutrients. The airline plans to continue engaging even more employees with Rise Against Hunger throughout the year, with plans to pack a minimum of ninety thousand more meals by the end of 2019.

"United Airlines and their employees have been an integral part of our movement to end world hunger," said Kate Day, interim CEO & President, Rise Against Hunger. "Through financial commitment and bringing together over 4,000 global employees to package 1 million meals, United has helped nourish the lives of 10,000 people in critical need for a full year in communities across South and Central America, Africa and Asia."

As the official airline partner of Rise Against Hunger, United employees have been packing meals for the organization since 2017. Employees from around the world have spent more than five thousand hours volunteering through meal packing and meal distribution events. Countries of impact have included Nicaragua, India, Zambia, Haiti, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Honduras among others.

Every customer. Every flight. Every day.

In 2019, United is focusing more than ever on its commitment to its customers, looking at every aspect of its business to ensure that the carrier keeps customers' best interests at the heart of its service. In addition to today's announcement, United recently announced that luxury skincare line Sunday Riley will make products exclusively for United customers to experience in amenity kits, released a re-imagined version of the most downloaded app in the airline industry, introduced ConnectionSaver, a new tool dedicated to improving the experience for customers connecting from one United flight to the next and made DIRECTV free for every passenger on 211 aircraft, offering more than 100 channels on seat back monitors on more than 30,000 seats.

About United

United's shared purpose is "Connecting People. Uniting the World." We are more focused than ever on our commitment to customers through a series of innovations and improvements designed to help build a great experience: Every customer. Every flight. Every day. Together, United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 4,900 flights a day to 355 airports across five continents. In 2018, United and United Express operated more than 1.7 million flights carrying more than 158 million customers. United is proud to have the world's most comprehensive route network, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. United operates 779 mainline aircraft and the airline's United Express carriers operate 569 regional aircraft. United is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to 193 countries via 28 member airlines. For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter and Instagram or connect on Facebook. The common stock of United's parent, United Continental Holdings, Inc., is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol "UAL".

About Rise Against Hunger

Rise Against Hunger, an international hunger relief organization, aims to show the world that it is, in fact, possible to end hunger by the year 2030. With 28 U.S. locations and five international offices, the organization is committed to nourishing lives, providing emergency aid, empowering communities and growing the hunger movement. Rise Against Hunger has facilitated meal packaging of nearly 500 million meals to be distributed to 74 countries around the world.

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SOURCE United Airlines