UPS announced a multi-year, multi-million-dollar initiative to improve the capabilities of relief organizations to respond to global emergencies.
The effort, will involve both UPS and The UPS Foundation. It begins with a commitment of up to $9 million over the next two years in the form of substantial financial grants, in-kind services and the deployment of logistics expertise. The commitment will support some of the world’s most respected relief organizations, including the American Red Cross, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, CARE and the Aidmatrix Foundation, said UPS.
“This broad strategy for global disaster preparedness and response extends well beyond traditional financial support,” said Ken Sternad, president of The UPS Foundation. “We are combining our supply chain expertise, our assets and linking our key partners to enable more effective response to global emergencies.”
Sternad continued, noting hundreds of millions of lives are affected daily by natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies. According to UNICEF, said Sternad, in the last decade an estimated 20 million children have been forced to flee their homes and more than 1 million have been orphaned or separated from their families as a result of these tragedies. “If UPS can impact even a small percentage of these disasters that are happening daily somewhere around the world, this initiative will have been a success,” added Sternad.
In launching the initiative, UPS and The UPS Foundation announced major donations to organizations committed to disaster preparedness and relief. They include:
• A $500,000 cash and in-kind donation to the American Red Cross to provide logistics, shipping and warehouse support, enabling the Red Cross to preposition supplies strategically to respond more effectively to the needs of those affected by disasters.
• A two-year, $1 million commitment to the US Fund for UNICEF, including a grant to strengthen UNICEF’s emergency response capacity for its disaster preparedness program in the Asia-Pacific region. That program is particularly designed to protect the 580 million children who live there.
• Collaboration support for CARE and Aidmatrix to establish integrated and standardized supply chain management systems. The UPS Foundation is supporting CARE with a $250,000 cash grant for the use of Aidmatrix technology that will enhance CARE’s ability to track relief supplies and the hiring of a logistics professional to manage CARE’s global supply chain. Also, UPS logistics experts are on the ground to help implement these improvements.
• Expansion of the UPS commitment to the Logistics Emergency Teams (LETs) initiative that provides logistics experts to the World Food Programme. LETs operate in support of the United Nations Logistics cluster following natural disasters and consist of logistics experts who deploy within 48-to-72 hours for three-to-six weeks in the aftermath of major natural disasters.
• A $250,000 grant to Aidmatrix to help fund the international expansion of the organization’s transportation aid relief program. UPS is matching this grant with $250,000 in donated transportation.
• A $50,000 grant to Safe America for its program encouraging American families to conduct “communication drills” and other activities as part of an annual rehearsal for a natural disaster or emergency.
