UPS helps Haiti

UPS says it has contributed more than US$1 million in cash and in-kind support to earthquake relief efforts in Haiti through its charitable arm, The UPS Foundation.

The US$1 million donation will include US$500,000 in cash and up to US$500,000 of in-kind services for the shipment of needed supplies. The funds will be divided between The American Red Cross, CARE, UNICEF and other organisations that assist with long-term relief activities.

“With hundreds of thousands of people affected, our hearts go out to Haiti,” said Dan Brutto, president of UPS International. Brutto serves on the Board of Directors for the US Fund for UNICEF. “Through our financial commitment and logistics expertise, UPS is positioned to respond quickly to the urgent needs and tremendous suffering that have been created by the earthquake. We felt it was critical that we act fast to support the relief efforts.”

With a network that extends around the globe, UPS says it has been a leader in disaster relief and response. In recent years, UPS relief efforts in the Philippines, Samoa, China, Myanmar and across the United States have included warehouse management, transportation network design and supply chain distribution.

In addition to providing financial and in-kind commitments to Haiti relief, UPS is a member of the World Food Programme’s Logistics Emergency Teams (LETs) and anticipates the activation of those teams. The LETs initiative involves providing “loaned” logistics experts to oversee on-site disaster response, normally for a deployment of three to six months.

UPS provided logistics support in Haiti just two years ago when the island nation was slammed by hurricanes and flooding. One of the UPS experts dispatched in 2008, UPS Americas Region Health and Safety Manager John Vera, describes crisis response in Haiti as extraordinarily difficult because the country has little modern infrastructure.

“Our job is to respond quickly and get supplies to those who need it most, but it’s not an easy task in Haiti,” said Vera.