Troup Founder and CCO Matt Dimmer Celebrates 10 Years of The Extra Mile Organisation

The public safety restrictions imposed during the outbreak of a contagious disease really drive home how important it is to be able to say goodbye to a loved one. But even when it’s safe to make human contact, many people don’t have the means to travel and visit a loved one who is terminally ill.

Matt Dimmer founded The Extra Mile Organisation in 2011 to support those who can’t afford to pay for these trips. The organisation accepts air miles and donates them to people who want to say goodbye to their loved ones who are terminally ill with cancer.

Matt is partner and chief creative officer at the Los Angeles and Chicago based agency Troup and he has worked at mcgarrybowen, JWT, Vitro, and Red Tettemer. He founded The Extra Mile after his father was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. His organisation has collected over one million travel miles over the past decade.

And things are picking up in 2021: The Extra Mile Organisation got an extra push this year when United Airlines publicised it on Giving Tuesday. The airline aligned it with its own Miles on a Mission crowdsourcing program, invited its MileagePlus members to transfer miles to The Extra Mile, and offered to donate an extra 50,000 if the org meets its 500,000-mile goal. So far, it has 188,500 miles in 2021.