Atlanta, April 7, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, The UPS Foundation, the philanthropic arm of UPS (NYSE: UPS), announced it will donate more than $9 million toward community safety initiatives focused on enhancing disaster response, recovery, and emergency preparedness through enhanced technology infrastructure and road safety initiatives. To underscore the importance of humanitarian supply chain capabilities, UPS will deploy UPS Relief LinkTM, humanitarian supply chain solutions that strengthen the tracking of critical relief supplies. UPS is working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide better visibility of the journey of urgently needed items through the last mile of delivery to refugees.
Community Safety is one of four pillars The UPS Foundation lends both its financial support and logistics expertise to serve communities worldwide. Under this pillar, The UPS Foundation addresses humanitarian relief initiatives through disaster preparedness, as well as relief and recovery efforts.
In addition to making the UPS Relief Link program more widely available, The UPS Foundation is also awarding $1 million to CARE, a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty, to implement the Aidmatrix supply chain management platform, called SCM4Good. These technology tools include commodity tracking, asset management and fleet optimization modules to increase the visibility of global inventories, thus speeding relief and recovery efforts.
"Each year, millions of people are impacted by natural disasters all over the world," said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation. "We believe we can help reduce the subsequent human suffering by collaborating with our partners and to help communities better prepare for the unexpected. Our strong expertise in logistics and supply chain management demonstrates the value we place on equipping individuals and businesses with the skills, information and resources to ensure communities are better prepared."
Being a leader in global logistics services begins with the road. Road safety is also part of the Community Safety pillar, where UPS leverages its expertise in safe driving to develop robust educational programs that pass on this expertise to young drivers.
As road conditions vary around the globe, particularly in developing nations, The UPS Foundation devotes many of its road safety grants to nonprofit organizations in international regions that may have unsafe road infrastructures. From Latin America to Southeast Asia, The UPS Foundation's contributions support helmet protection for drivers on motorized vehicles, as well as training young drivers how to navigate dangerous road conditions and tips for traveling with young passengers onboard.
"The UPS Foundation is heavily invested in ensuring drivers are educated about safe driving practices in their region," Martinez continued. "For more than 100 years, we've been committed to safe driving and will continue to implement innovative and interactive programs that bring UPS's road safety knowledge to drivers around the world."
The UPS Foundation's community safety grants will support several organizations that provide humanitarian relief, totaling more than $6.6 million and include:
- The Aidmatrix Foundation, Good360, UNHCR, UNICEF and the World Food Programme will receive grants that benefit technology and supply chain initiatives to improve back-end processes and tracking behind humanitarian relief efforts.
- The American Red Cross, CARE, MedShare, National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, Operation Hope, Salvation Army and St. Bernard Project will benefit from ongoing support for disaster relief efforts, including providing food, shelter and other essential recovery needs.
- Grants for ongoing emergency preparedness and training programs for American families and businesses will be awarded to the Advertising Council and Safe America Foundation.
- In order to collectively address global challenges, the following organizations will receive grants to strengthen community resilience through greater public/private partnerships. They include InterAction, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Corporate Citizenship Center.
- The Georgia Tech Foundation will receive scholarship dollars for students in its International Humanitarian Logistics program.
Other organizations that are recipients of The UPS Foundation's community safety grants, for the purpose of championing road safety, total more than $2.4 million and include:
- The Boys & Girls Club of Canada, Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe e.V, Hands on Shanghai and UK Youth will receive grants to expand the UPS Road Code safety program in Canada, Germany, China and the UK.
- The Asia Injury Prevention Foundation will receive a grant for its Helmets for Kids program in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.
- Grants for ongoing emergency preparedness training and safe driving educational programs will be awarded to Citizenship Education Fund, FIA Foundation and Fundaciόn Gonzalo Rodrίguez.
For more information about UPS's corporate giving, please visit UPS.com/Foundation.
About The UPS Foundation
UPS (NYSE: UPS) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including the transportation of packages and freight; the facilitation of international trade, and the deployment of advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business. Since its founding in 1907, UPS has built a legacy as a caring and responsible corporate citizen, supporting programs that provide long-term solutions to community needs. Founded in 1951, The UPS Foundation is responsible for facilitating community involvement to local, national, and global communities. In 2013, UPS and its employees, active and retired, invested more than $102 million in charitable giving around the world. The UPS Foundation can be found on the web at UPS.com/Foundation. To get UPS news direct, visit pressroom.ups.com/RSS.