UPS Foundation
The UPS Foundation has partnered with UNICEF USA for over 20 years, providing grant funding to a range of UNICEF programs, as well as in-kind shipping, freight and expertise. Their support has been integral to UNICEF's supply and logistics operations, especially for emergency preparedness and relief efforts. To date, The UPS Foundation has gifted funds and services to UNICEF worth over $13 million to help save children’s lives.
In April 2020, UPS President of Supply Chain Solutions Philippe Gilbert began serving on the UNICEF USA Board of Directors.
Saving lives through shipments
Since 2010, UPS has assisted UNICEF through relief shipments, donating flights, sea and ground transport and logistics insights to deliver thousands of metric tons of nutrition packets, education supplies, hygiene and sanitation kits, medical supplies, vaccines and more to nearly two dozen countries, including Bangladesh, Chad, Haiti, Nepal, Somalia and Syria. When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, UPS worked with UNICEF USA to rush lifesaving supplies to those in need.
In response to COVID-19, UPS provided supply flights to India, helping UNICEF deliver thousands of critically-needed oxygen concentrators. UPS also supports a program that tracks COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines as they move through supply chains in Nigeria, Rwanda, and Ethiopia to prevent theft and counterfeiting, and Visibility for Vaccines, an online tool that helps governments monitor vaccine orders and supply forecasts and plan accordingly.
Speeding up impact with UPS employee volunteers
In addition to providing emergency grant funding and in-kind shipments for the relief efforts, UPS employees also volunteer their time and expertise.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, UPS employees helped UNICEF USA staff and volunteers pack education kits to help over 14,000 children continue learning and 400 teachers continue teaching in the Houston Unified School District.
To assist those displaced by the war in Syria — and facing brutal winter conditions — UPS and UNICEF USA volunteers packed thousands of warm clothing kits to ship to children from UPS’ Kentucky and New Jersey warehouses in 2013 and 2014. UPS then helped UNICEF deliver over 45,000 of those kits from the U.S. to Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Iraq.
When an earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, UPS brought together a team of employee volunteers and logistics experts to help UNICEF assemble and ship 50,000 child protection kits containing clothing, sleeping mats, hygiene supplies and other items. The kits were shipped by UPS cargo plane from six different locations across the U.S. within 48 hours for distribution to unaccompanied children awaiting reunification with surviving parents and relatives.
Learn more about how UNICEF and companies work together to create better futures for children.
Top photo: UPS employees joined UNICEF USA volunteers to pack 2,500 kits of warm clothing for Syrian children at a warehouse in Carteret, NJ. ©UNICEF USA/Thelma Garcia for Julie Skarratt Photography.