Throughout June, FlyMates across our global geo-clusters and workspaces officially traded their laptops for gardening gloves, mentorship guides, and running shoes (and eyes) to participate in our FlyBetter Month of Service.
At Flywire, we are incredibly proud to offer two paid FlyBetter Days every year to give back to the communities we call home. But this June, we took that collective energy to the next level.
Six groups self-organized team efforts, alongside dozens of passionate FlyMates who took the initiative to impact their neighborhoods entirely on their own. From collaborative group outings to deeply personal solo missions, the diversity of how our team showed up for the world was nothing short of inspiring.
Redefining What It Means to "Give Back"
When we think of volunteering, we often picture physical labor—like painting fences or picking up plastic on a beach. And while those hands-on environmental tracks are vital, this month proved that giving back isn’t always about getting your hands dirty.
We want to give a massive shoutout to the creative, diverse, and skill-based ways our FlyMates chose to utilize their volunteer days. Giving back can look like:
- Supporting the Next Generation: Volunteering at a local school's sports day, field trip, or classroom activity.
- Digital and Neighborly Aid: Helping elderly neighbors or local community centers set up IT equipment, manage official documents, or build simple websites.
- Skill-Based Mentoring: Sharing your professional expertise (like finance, marketing, or coding) with non-profits or students from underrepresented backgrounds.
- Saving Lives: Spending an hour donating blood or plasma at a local clinic.
Every single bit of effort counts. Whether you spend your day with a group of 20 FlyMates or solo, the impact is real.
FlyBetter Spotlights: Our FlyMate Community in Action
Raquel Ibarra, Team Lead, Payment Experience, Insurance & PAS
What did your group do for your Fly Better Day?
We volunteered at the Lifeline Bookfest in Brisbane, Australia. This annual second-hand book sale raises vital funds that directly support Lifeline's 24/7 suicide prevention and crisis support services. You can browse through over a million pre-loved books, comics, records, and games and purchase them for a price as low as $2.50 AUD. The event took place at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC), South Brisbane.
What was the most rewarding or surprising moment of the day?
Since it’s one of the biggest book sales in the world, you get to meet such a wonderful, diverse mix of readers. My absolute favorite part was spotting the truly dedicated bookworms who actually brought empty suitcases with them — such a clever and practical way to roll their massive new book hauls home!
Truc Huynh, Payment Experience Specialist, Pay Any School
What did you do for your Fly Better Day?
I took part in Hair For Hope 2026 with the Children's Cancer Organisation by shaving my head to support children battling cancer and help raise awareness for the cause. The event took place in Singapore – at one of the Hair For Hope on-site events held across the island.
What was the most rewarding or surprising moment of the day?
Definitely seeing my reflection with a completely shaved head for the first time! Fun fact: this was my first time ever shaving my head... unless you count being a newborn. It felt a little surreal (and surprisingly breezy!), but it also reminded me that if losing my hair for a day could help someone feel a little less alone, it was absolutely worth it. Hair grows back—but letting kids and cancer patients know they're supported can leave a much bigger impact.
I'd also love to invite you to watch this short video by the Children's Cancer Organisation. It features kids talking about how they feel when they see people shaving their heads in support of them. Hearing their words really hit me—I won't lie, I was this close to tearing up (slightly embarrassing to admit). It was a beautiful reminder that even a small gesture can mean the world to someone.
Patricia Romero, Administrative Business Partner
What did you do for your Fly Better Day?
The group of FlyMates and I, based in the New York area, went to support a cause for "God's Love We Deliver." The activity involved packing food into individual containers, printing and attaching labels with food descriptions to the corresponding containers, and organizing them into large baskets for later delivery. The event took place in person in New York City!
What was the most rewarding or surprising moment of the day?
The best part of the day and the activity was being able to connect in-person as FlyMates. Some of us had the chance to meet for the first time. Collaborating together and supporting causes like this one, makes for truly enriching personal experiences!
Layla Zhang, Service Consultant - Team Lead, China Agent
What did your group do for your Fly Better Day?
We partnered with the NGO 'Be Your Eyes', organized our first-ever collective volunteer event in China to assist visually impaired individuals during their runs. To amplify our impact, a $50 per person donation match was dedicated to this amazing cause. The events took place at a few popular parks in Shanghai.
What was the most rewarding or surprising moment of the day?
The most rewarding moment was when we put on blindfolds to simulate visual impairment ourselves. In that exact moment, we truly experienced what it feels like to walk in their shoes, and it brought us a profound sense of empathy.
Leah Albanese, Application Support II
What did your group do for your Fly Better Day?
A group from the Adelaide office volunteered with OzHarvest, cooking meals to be provided to those in need. OzHarvest is a food rescue charity that works to rescue food that would be thrown away from local businesses to provide to vulnerable communities for free. We were able to go to the OzHarvest headquarters to volunteer, just outside of the city here in Adelaide!
What was the most rewarding or surprising moment of the day?
It was extremely rewarding to know that meals we were cooking would be provided for free to those in need. It was also surprising to learn that OzHarvest rescues roughly 250 tonnes of good food every week throughout Australia, which is then able to be directed to over 1,500 charities!
Victor Gil, Senior Application Support Engineer I
What did you do for your Fly Better Day?
I helped a local reading group in my hometown to upgrade their community website. I audited their full infrastructure (Debian 10, PHP 7.3, MariaDB 10.3) and put together a migration plan to bring them up to Drupal 11. Also prepared and delivered a hands-on training session for the group members so they can manage the site themselves: creating articles, uploading images and PDFs, organizing content, managing menus and users. This took place in Navajas, Spain.
What was the most rewarding or surprising moment of the day?
To realise that I am so fortunate to be able to give back to my community in this way, helped by my company’s initiative of Fly Better Days. Every bit of help is huge, for those who are in need, even if for us it is just a normal daily task.