The UPS Foundation, the philanthropic arm of UPS® (NYSE: UPS), is collaborating with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to provide transport for humanitarian aid for refugees in Greece and on the Macedonian border. On September 5, shipments arrived there containing 163 tons of humanitarian aid, including 86 tons of high-energy biscuits, 30,000 blankets, 25,000 sleeping mats, and 1,000 solar lamps. The transport was funded by The UPS Foundation as part of the UPS Humanitarian Relief and Resilience program.
This latest humanitarian shipment was part of a long-standing collaboration between The UPS Foundation, UNHCR, WFP, and other UN agencies and non-governmental organizations. As a partner to UNHCR, UPS remains ready to provide logistical support in delivering aid to refugees around the world. Additionally, The UPS Foundation is supporting The Salvation Army, which will use the received funds to assist refugees arriving in Rome.
– The situation of refugees is poignant and concerns our global community. We committed ourselves to supporting humanitarian partner organizations quite some time ago, delivering life-saving goods to people and communities in crisis – said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation.
The UPS Foundation has supported relief efforts for Syrian-Iraqi refugees for the past three years, including through:
• Delivering protective and medical clothing to Turkey for the non-profit organization Syria Relief & Development and providing in-kind or volunteer assistance to the organization Medshare to deliver medical supplies to refugees (2014)
• Collaborating with UNICEF on numerous initiatives such as: packing and transporting 17 shipping containers with 23,400 winter clothing kits for Syrian children in Erbil, Iraq (2014); organizing charter flights to Erbil, Iraq, with supplies for over 40,000 refugees in Kurdistan, such as therapeutic food, tents, sleeping mats, water purification kits, and first aid kits (2013); packing and transporting 180,000 items of clothing in 20,000 winter clothing kits, including hats, scarves, gloves, jackets, thermal underwear, socks, and shoes, to Lebanon and northern Iraq (2013)
• Participating in the founding of the UNHCR Innovation Circle and introducing the UPS Relief Link program to improve the tracking of humanitarian aid shipments for refugees at the last mile to ensure fair distribution of food and other products (2013)
• Collaborating with UNHCR on the transport of 28 containers containing portable shelters, sleeping mats, water tanks, and blankets to Gaziantep, Turkey (2013)
• Providing in-kind assistance in the form of transporting 394 tons of food, supplies, and winter clothing for Syrian refugees in support of UNHCR (2013)
• Collaborating with the charity Shelterbox USA on transporting 11,750 kg of emergency relief products to Lebanon (2013)
• Sending skilled volunteers – participants of the WFP Logistics Emergency Team – to southern Turkey to assess the capacity of ports, roads, and airports on key supply routes for Syrian refugees (2012).
The UPS Foundation’s humanitarian relief program provides communities with support in all phases of disaster response, from immediate relief preparation to post-crisis recovery. In 2015, The UPS Foundation allocated $10 million to support logistics and in-kind aid as part of initiatives focused on strengthening disaster management skills through better preparedness, response, and post-crisis recovery. In 2014, The UPS Foundation participated in 263 shipments to 43 different countries to support post-crisis and recovery efforts. More information about The UPS Foundation’s humanitarian relief program can be found at UPS.com/Foundation.