UPS Kicks Off Global Volunteer Month; Commits to Planting Additional 1 Million Trees
$2.3 Million in Environmental Grants Awarded
ATLANTA, September 30, 2013 /3BL Media/ – The UPS Foundation, the philanthropic arm of UPS (NYSE: UPS), today announced it will mark the start of the company’s 10th annual Global Volunteer Month (GVM) on October 1 by pledging to plant another one million trees around the world. The UPS Foundation also announced it has awarded $2.3 million in grants to support environmental programs and forestry-focused initiatives globally.
In 2011, the company announced a new Global Forestry Initiative to help plant, protect and preserve trees in the U.S. and around the globe. The following year, The UPS Foundation began its yearlong effort to plant one million trees worldwide for this environmental program. To date, more than 1.3 million trees have already been planted.
"Investing in tree planting and reforestation is strategic to our environmental sustainability program,” said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation. “It also builds resiliency in our communities and engages tens of thousands of UPSers who help plant these trees around the world."
The recipients of the 2013 environmental grants are as follows:
- Earth Day Network to allocate grant dollars to support the Trees for Communities project, including planting 390,000 trees in five countries and the Boreal Forest in Canada.
- Keep America Beautiful, Inc. toward community and post-recovery tree planting grants and support of the 2014 Vision for America Awards.
- National Arbor Day Foundation to support the UPS Employee Forest Program and reforestation in priority areas throughout the United States and abroad.
- The Nature Conservancy for the UPS Global Forestry Initiative for reforestation efforts in the United States, Brazil, Guatemala, Haiti and China, forest conservation in Canada, climate policy in Europe and to support the Healthy Cities Healthy Trees initiative.
- World Resources Institute toward The Greenhouse Gas Protocol and reducing methane emissions from natural gas systems.
Global Volunteer Month
For the 10th year in a row, UPS is encouraging its 400,000 employees to lend hands and logistics expertise to make their communities more environmentally conscientious. Last year, UPS employees donated 1.8 million volunteer hours globally, up from 1.6 million volunteer hours the previous year.
“Service and volunteerism are at the core of our UPS culture as our founder Jim Casey always stressed the importance of giving back to the local communities where we live and work,” said Martinez. “However in the month of October, UPSers will mobilize across all geographies to put our environmental sustainability values into action.”
For more information about UPS’s corporate giving and sustainability initiatives, review the company's entire 2012 Corporate Sustainability Report at www.ups.com/sustainability.
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 is responsible for facilitating community involvement to local, national, and global communities. In 2012, UPS and its employees, active and retired, invested more than $97.5 million in charitable giving around the world. The UPS Foundation can be found on the web at UPS.com/foundation. To get UPS news direct, visit pressroom.ups.com/RSS.
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