Last month, a group of eight Air Canada employees, including pilots, flight attendants, and customer service agents visited Montreal’s CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital to spend time with the young patients and their families to bring friendship, joy and laughter.

Over the course of a few hours, they spent time with several children and parents, handing out postcards, pins, drawing materials, and medals of courage while also taking the time to learn about each patient and eliciting smiles and more than a few high-fives.

“Thank you to the Air Canada team and thank you to the Air Canada Foundation for the generous visit for the patients and the families of the CHU Saint-Justine Hospital,” said Rachel Tremblay-Belanger, Head of the Volunteer Service. “It was greatly appreciated.”

“There was a young lady, I think about 14 years old, who was going through cancer treatment, and she was a huge Taylor Swift fan so that was really fun to relate with her. She made us these really cool bracelets because we’re part of the fan club so that was really touching. She said she only gave them to the hospital staff she really loved,” said First Officer Genevieve Lang “That was extremely rewarding!”

“My role in the company is to have an impact during our flights. To be able to do that on the ground instead of the air today, in a very different environment, is very special” said Eric Brian Razon Trinidad, flight attendant with Air Canada.

The visit was organized by the Air Canada Foundation, which provides financial or fundraising support to Canadian-registered charities focused on improving children’s health and well-being.