ATLANTA, April 12, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
The UPS Foundation, which leads the global citizenship efforts of UPS (NYSE: UPS), today announced it is awarding 2018 grants and in-kind support totaling more than $16 million to non-profit, non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies for humanitarian relief, community resilience and safety programs worldwide. Grants provide support for disaster response, preparedness and recovery, enhancing public health care supply chains and improving global road safety.
Among the programs, The UPS Foundation is expanding its work with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and Zipline, a California-based robotics company, to leverage drones to deliver life-saving blood, medicines and vaccines to remote communities like Rwanda. The global partnership, which was announced in May 2016 and formally launched the first drone deliveries in October 2016, has resulted in more than 4,000 drone deliveries expediting over 7,000 units of blood to remote hospitals across Rwanda. The world’s first national medical drone delivery network in Rwanda has proven so successful that in 2018 it’s being expanded across all of Rwanda.
“This groundbreaking partnership with Gavi and Zipline provides access to life-saving medical supplies in only minutes rather than hours for millions of men, women and children in need,” said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation and chief diversity and inclusion officer. “With this expansion, the reach of the drone program will double from 6 million to 12 million people across Rwanda. Additionally, the initiative will expand to deliver basic medications, vaccines, and medical supplies to hospitals and health clinics via drone.”
The UPS Foundation’s top goal is to leverage its philanthropy, the resources of UPS and expertise of its employees to create public-private partnerships that are dedicated to advance the resiliency of communities around the world.
“UPS is honored to work side-by-side with these preeminent institutions who together are impacting the lives of people in crisis today and helping to “future proof” these communities so that they can thrive in a safer, healthier and more prosperous world,” said Martinez.
The UPS Foundation also will award grants to the following organizations, among many others:
- American Red Cross, in support of the Annual Disaster Giving Program that enables the Red Cross to provide food and shelter immediately following disasters as well as the Home Fire Preparedness Campaign
- CARE USA, to aid with emergency response and to develop supply chain solutions for vital relief efforts in famine impacted areas of Africa
- Good360, in continued support of DisasterRecovery360 platform technology enhancements and transportation assistance for long term recovery efforts
- International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), toward the Community Pandemic Preparedness Program and support for local resilience programs
- National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD), to support the organization’s Long-term Recovery Initiatives and Long-term Recovery Mini-Grant Program
- Operation Hope, toward the Disaster Recovery Fund to help disaster survivors with financial recovery solutions as well as the Financial Recovery Preparedness Program for small businesses
- St. Bernard Project, Inc., to support the National Disaster Resilience & Recovery Lab (DRL), which provides re-building support for communities impacted by disasters
- UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, toward capacity building for global fleet management, emergency preparedness supply training and Safe Road Use workshops
- UNICEF, toward efforts to strengthen health system supply chains through vaccine stock management tool development and emergency and global crises transportation support
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce Corporate Citizenship Center, to aid in the expansion of the Connecting Business Disaster Resilience Program and Resilience in a Box Toolkit to enhance the disaster preparedness of small and medium businesses and to build community resilience
- World Food Program USA, in support of emergency and global crisis response and capacity building efforts including road safety training in Tanzania, and food distribution supply chain optimization efforts in Rwanda and India
The UPS Foundation also will award grants that help extend the reach of UPS Road Code™, a teen and novice safe driving training program available in the United States and internationally. Taught by UPS volunteers and based on the company’s safe-driving methods, the program is available to teens between the ages of 13 and 18. To date, more than 48,000 teenagers have participated. The program has been extended to Canada, China, Germany, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.
The program is offered in the U.S. with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and overseas in six countries with various youth development organizations. The UPS Foundation has contributed $16.6 million to the UPS Road Code program since its inception.
These community investments are part of The UPS Foundation’s commitment to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and advancing humanitarian action and global resilience by combining its philanthropy with the resources of UPS and the expertise and volunteer spirit of UPSers all over the world. For more information about UPS’s philanthropic and volunteerism efforts, please visit www.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 leads its global citizenship programs and is responsible for facilitating community involvement to local, national, and global communities. In 2017, UPS and its employees, active and retired, invested more than $118 million in charitable giving around the world. The UPS Foundation can be found on the web at UPS.com/Foundation and @UPS_Foundation on Twitter. To get UPS news direct, follow @UPS_News on Twitter.