American Airlines gifted $180,000 to the Police Athletic League of Philadelphia (PAL) after an executive of the airline Bob Ciminelli announced his retirement after a 36 year long career. Ciminelli is a well known, active board member of Police Athletic League of Philadelphia (PAL), and has been a part of the organization since 2009. A second donation of $180,000 in Ciminelli’s honor will be donated to American Airlines’ employee assistance fund which he was also fond of during his career.

Ciminelli has been involved with airports all over the United States holding management positions in many large cities for nearly 40 years. Those cities include Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, Washington D.C. and more. He has been in Philadelphia for 7 years as Vice President, Philadelphia Operation. But none of that prevented Ciminelli from dedicating his time to PAL.

“He was very active and always took the time to spend with the kids and with the officers,” Ted Qualli, Executive Director of PAL said about Ciminelli.

The $180,000 will benefit PAL’s programs involving athletics, culture and education. They are also expanding and partnering with Bridgespan Group on what they are calling a five year strategic plan to focus on getting more kids, more time and more centers. The donation will help them reach this new goal.