The UPS Foundation has announced 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, UPS Foundation is expanding its work with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and Zipline to leverage drones to deliver life-saving blood, medicines and vaccines to remote communities like Rwanda. The global partnership 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.
President of the UPS Foundation and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Eduardo Martinez said, “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. 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.
It will also award grants to the following organizations, among many others: American Red Cross, CARE USA, Good360, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD), Operation Hope, St. Bernard Project, Inc.; UNHCR, UNICEF, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Corporate Citizenship Center, World Food Program USA.
These community investments are part of 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.
