On Monday, millions of Americans and people across the world will honor Dr. King’s legacy through community volunteering. UPS is proud to be based in Dr. King’s hometown of Atlanta.

UPS’s founder, Jim Casey, shared Dr. King’s commitment for community service. Jim and his siblings founded the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) in 1948 to honor their mother, who struggled to raise the family as a young widow. Financed by Jim’s personal fortune, AECF serves as an advocate for at-risk children and families.

Every day, UPSers are out in our communities serving others. Whether it’s delivering packages, providing logistics support to disaster relief efforts or volunteering at a local school … being a part of a community means being involved in the community. In 2010, UPSers and their family members contributed more than 1.2 million hours of volunteer time. Dr. King’s legacy is not simply limited to one day of service … every day is an opportunity to serve.

How will you serve?

The following video profiles UPS manager Terry Brown, who was recognized for his volunteerism with the 2011 UPS Casey Award.

This December marks the 60^th anniversary of The UPS Foundation. Our founder, Jim Casey, a visionary in so many ways, was practicing the concepts of “Corporate Citizenship” and “Corporate Social Responsibility” in 1951 long before those words even existed. I’m thankful that I work for a company with a heart. After all, we do love logistics.

I came to The UPS Foundation just over one year ago after eleven years in corporate marketing. The desire to work in the foundation and have a job that allows me to give back started back in 2005. I was selected to attend the UPS Community Internship in McAllen,Texas.  For one month, I was relieved of my daily office responsibilities and asked to do service work in this extremely challenged community. Those thirty days changed my perspective on life. I became thankful for the things I had, and less wishful for those I didn’t.

In my current role as corporate relations manager, I see the real impact of all UPS giving. UPS and its employees give nearly $100 million a year back to our communities. We fund programs that make the dream of attaining a higher education possible. We provide support for emerging entrepreneurs to ensure they are positioned for success and self-sustenance. We are dedicated to ensuring that young girls grow up to be strong, determined, capable women. We provide the use of our transportation assets to make sure the children who are starving in the Horn of Africa are getting food supplies. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our competitors in the logistics space when disaster strikes to lend a hand and speed the distribution of emergency relief supplies. We leverage the skills of our drivers and our knowledge of road safety to teach teens how to be better drivers with our UPS Road Code program. I’m thankful that we are able to continue to do this in a time when so many companies have cut back on funding.

With all of our personal commitments and work obligations, our people find it in their capacity to give more than 1.2 million hours of their time to help others each year. I’m thankful that this is a part of our DNA and our people truly believe this is our obligation. The following video illustrates the continued commitment  to communities of UPS employees around the world during UPS Global Volunteer Month…

Happy Birthday to The UPS Foundation!

For the ninth October, UPS employees around the world have joined with their friends and family to take part in volunteer projects in local communities.  At UPS, we call it Global Volunteer Month. 

This October, UPS expects our volunteers to complete 275,000 hours of service by painting, landscaping, and building in places like Brazil, Hong Kong, and Louisville, Kentucky.  And, we’re well on our way to reaching that goal.

This year’s Global Volunteer Month has started with some pretty inspiring projects. For example:

• In South Africa, UPS volunteers worked at the Mpumelelo Day Care Centre, a part of the Kempton Park HIV Care Centre, to paint and repair classrooms and playgrounds. 
• While in Brazil, a UPS team built assistive technology items, like cardboard walkers, for disabled children at Rua Pedro Taques.

Here are photos taken during those two events.  We look forward to even more inspiring projects…

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With the 104^th anniversary of UPS just around the corner (Aug. 28), I’ve been thinking about our founder, Jim Casey.  Jim taught us a lot.  His speeches and writings in the 1930s, 40s and 50s would make a best-selling business book if repackaged today.  Thomas Friedman…  Jim Collins…  Gary Hammel… all the other business gurus of today – Jim had them all beat more than half-a-century ago.

But Jim taught us more than just good business.  He taught us about philanthropy, and about giving back to the community. 

Jim always wanted to be involved in the community, not just a passive funder.  The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a great example.  Founded by Jim and financed entirely by Jim’s personal fortune, it’s a hands-on, community-based organization that reaches out, gets involved and changes the lives of thousands of at-risk kids every year.  That’s how Jim wanted it.

And when he formed The UPS Foundation 60 years ago, I believe Jim knew that the company had a unique view of the communities we serve and that we could make a difference by being involved. UPS isn’t a company with products sitting on shelves, or stores or manufacturing plants in selected cities. We’re a company of people, serving other people, face-to-face in every community in the country, every day. If there is a stop light in America, the chances are that a UPS driver will pass under it today, and that same ubiquity is quietly spreading around the world.

And we do get involved. Last year, our employees and their families globally logged nearly 1.3 million hours of volunteer time in our volunteer management system. It’s a remarkable achievement that few companies come close to.

The trend in corporate volunteerism is to increase the impact and quality of the hours that are donated.  Applying the unique skills of an organization to community challenges can have a much greater impact than just painting benches or raking leaves (although physical labor is still critical to volunteerism).  For UPS, this has meant dedicating our logistics and transportation skills to compelling issue like disaster relief.

In Haiti, Japan, the Horn of Africa and elsewhere, combining our logistics expertise, our transportation assets and our philanthropic dollars has helped make relief agencies more effective and ultimately save more lives.

Our founder Jim Casey may not have imagined the breadth of capabilities and scope of operations of today’s UPS… but he certainly would have expected that UPS people would be dedicating their time and talents to help build stronger communities wherever UPS operates.  He’d be proud of the legacy he helped to inspire.

Today’s story is part of our month-long series on UPSers as Everyday Heroes.

UPS MD-11 First Officer Ray Robinson creates extraordinary aviation and life lessons for students.

This summer, I worked with the Aviation Career Education Academy (ACE) in Louisville, Ky., which is hosted by the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (OBAP). That’s where I met Ray, who serves as the academy’s volunteer director. 

Ray works with OBAP to organize two aviation academies inKentuckythat expose middle and high school students to career fields in aviation. Ray, a graduate of the Air Force Academy, is in his sixth year as Louisville’s ACE academy director. 

Students attending the camp learn about aviation history, theory of flight and other aviation-related subjects. Students have the opportunity to go on field trips to aviation facilities, like UPS’s Flight Training Center, universities and museums. They also participate in other hands-on activities, like introductory flights, designed to give students a total aviation experience.

At Bowman Field, a general aviation airport, students surrounded Ray, soaking up his enthusiasm for education and aviation and his zeal for life. They laughed and felt at ease with him.

One can easily see that Ray is more than the academy’s director; he is a role model, a coach, a teacher, a motivator and an everyday hero.

Kelan Belton, 14, was one of the students who attended the academy and looked up to Ray. Kelan, who wants to become an aviation attorney, said the academy is more than an aviation camp, he said it is “good for your soul” and gives participants the nutrients they need for life, “such as instilling the importance of passion and perseverance.”

Ray said it is important to him that today’s youth get a chance to pursue their career desires whether it is in aviation or another career field. 

“During the academy, we expose them to life skills and information that will cross career spectrums and we try to mentally prepare them for college,” Ray said. “It’s not about me. It’s about them and how to teach them how to navigate through situations along their journey.”

“As a result of Ray’s personal effort and leadership, many inner-city high school students in Louisville have been encouraged to continue their education to complete high school and continue in college or technical school,” UPS A300 Training Manager Capt. Larry Parker said.

Ray humbly said he has had parents come to him and thank him for making a difference in their child’s life and reinforcing what they are trying to teach at home.

At UPS, I am privileged to work with extraordinary people, like Ray, who devote their lives to teach and encourage youth.

This year, UPS Airlines’ Crew Recognition Committee honored five crewmembers for outstanding performance, including Ray for his service to the community.

When Ray is not volunteering, he is flying MD-11s and customer packages around the world for UPS.

Today, 11-to-13 million people are starving and are fleeing southern Somalia for camps in Kenya.  Experts are calling it the worst drought in 60 years. More than 2 million children (under the age of five) in Somalia as well as in parts of Kenya and Ethiopia are acutely malnourished, including almost 500,000 children in an immediate life-threatening state.  In addition, children are more vulnerable to the spread of killer diseases, especially to outbreaks of measles, diarrhea and pneumonia. 

In response to this tragic situation, UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP) have officially released urgent appeals for assistance.  This week, UPS committed to leverage its global logistics network to help speed emergency supplies to the region.

The shipments will contain 110 metric tons of food supplies and plumpy sup, an edible paste made of peanuts, packed with calories/vitamins and specially formulated to re-nourish starving children.

This week, UPS also will be flying a special 767 charter flight from Cologne, Germany, to Nairobi, loaded with approximately 50 metric tons of food to assist World Food Programme life-saving efforts on the ground.  And over the next three weeks, UPS will coordinate the in-kind transport of an additional 60 metric tons of plumpy sup for UNICEF from Amsterdam to Nairobi.  

In addition, The UPS Foundation provided $100,000 from its Emergency Response Fund to continue supporting UNICEF’s urgent relief efforts in East Africa.

UNICEF and the World Food Programme are on the frontline feeding malnourished mothers and children, scaling up life-saving efforts by providing treatment for acute malnutrition through the provision of ready to use therapeutic feeding; providing access to safe water and sanitation; preventing the spread of killer diseases such as measles and polio, and helping resume schooling through the provision of temporary learning spaces. 

Please visit the World Food Programme and UNICEF to learn more about what they are doing in The Horn of Africa. 

This month, UPS celebrates 104 years of business. Our founder, Jim Casey, instilled in UPSers a spirit of service to our customers and our community. While Jim may not have regarded himself as a “hero,” his commitment to community service has delivered a lasting impact. Jim and his siblings founded the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) in 1948 to honor their mother, who struggled to raise the family as a young widow. The AECF serves as an advocate to help vulnerable children and families succeed.

And this spirit of serving extends to our customers … many of whom regard UPSers as heroes for their business.

Today, UPSers contribute their time and talents in a variety of ways:

• Providing logistics expertise to relief efforts in the aftermath of the Haiti and Japan earthquakes
• Coordinating the shipment of machinery to aid the Chilean miners rescue
• Serving in the Community Internship Program to assist neighborhoods that need help with poverty, drug dependency, homelessness and illiteracy
• Cooking meals for families staying at The Ronald McDonald House while their children undergo medical treatmen

Over the next few weeks, we’ll share stories of UPSers whose acts of heroism have made an impact on the lives of others. Like the story of UPS driver Ethan Callif who rescued a women trapped in her car that was sinking in a pond. And the story of UPS pilot Ray Robinson, who helps lead a summer aviation program for youth in Louisville, Ky.

Our series starts tomorrow with the entertaining story of Murray Wihlidal, a UPS supervisor in Canada, who delivered an urgent shipment of merchandise to John Mellencamp’s concert in Saskatchewan.

Finally! The day has arrived – as the editor of the UPS sustainability report, I’m pleased to announce that  after many months of gathering details and checking facts, we’ve launched the 2010 edition, themed “Sustainability Is…”  

So, sustainability is what, exactly?  I’d say it depends a lot on who’s talking and who’s listening. Sustainability, really, is in the eye of the beholder. What is important to you may depend on whether you are an employee, a customer, an investor or a sustainability expert. For many, sustainability is a synonym for environmental responsibility. For others, it is all about corporate philanthropy.

For UPS, it is delivering each package with less fuel. Logging the same amount of volunteer hours – 1.2 million hours – with a smaller workforce. Making choices to better serve customers while using fewer resources. Applying our logistics know-how to humanitarian crises to get food, water and other critical supplies delivered effectively and efficiently when it matters most.

It probably isn’t surprising that our report is driven (and supported) by UPS’s century-old focus on measuring things.  In sustainability, the million+ lines of data analyzed by our spreadsheet wielding engineers, allow us to figure out where we are and where we need to go. At UPS, metrics and sustainability go hand in hand.

But there’s another side to sustainability at UPS. Or rather, another face. Lots of faces really. UPS employees around the world whether they are wearing brown uniforms or suits and ties, work together every day to act responsibly. We consider the Earth, we play fair, we focus on safety and we give back.

UPS is committed to do right by the people, communities and environments where we operate.  By closely monitoring our performance, we have been able to save money, operate more efficiently and spark innovation. And, we continue to push ourselves to improve our data and transparently report our progress. Most importantly, behind this philosophy are 406,000 committed employees.

One of those committed UPSers is Scott Wicker, our new Chief Sustainability Officer. In the video below, he talks a little more about the way UPS thinks about sustainability.  Enjoy!

A few weeks ago more than 750 UPS employees laced up their sneakers and hit the field at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. They joined 2,400 other runners and walkers during the third annual Walk United to help fight poverty. UPS was a Home Run Champion for the event that raised about $150,000 for food, medical care and shelter for families in need.

George Willis, president of the South California district, received the award for having the most volunteers at the event – a few UPS employees even made the trip from Las Vegas to participate.

UPS was a proud sponsor of the event and showcases how the company is working to help the community and improve the planet. The district marketing team directed the Seeds of Hope and Sustainability activity. UPS provided cups, seeds and dirt for children and their parents to “Grow a Plant.” 

Walk United is a 5K run/walk co-organized by the Orange County United Way and the Angels Baseball Foundation. Money from the event supports 92 nonprofits that assist the 300,000 people living below poverty.

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UPS employees join hands with community leaders, politicians and celebrities in support of higher education.

Recently, Hands Across California approached UPS with a unique logistical challenge: help them connect a human-line of nearly two million people across a 1,500-mile route using UPS package cars as gathering points for volunteers. In addition, Hands Across California organizers asked if UPS employees would volunteer on the day of the event to ensure the human-line was realized.

From Sacramento to San Diego, and everywhere in between, UPS employees and their families volunteered to either drive package cars or hold hands as part of the line. “I’m here because two of my kids are getting ready to attend community college,” said UPS HR Representative Maura Pina. “It helps us out financially and allows them to get their core classes done before transferring to a four-year college.”

Students, parents, and other community college supporters formed a line of more than 100 people in the heart of San Francisco. Holding signs that urged people to text donations for the cause, the group was also loudly vocal in their support. Chants of  “We want education now!” could be heard up and down the city block.

Helen, a retired nurse, wore a sign that said “Save adult education. It got me off welfare.”

“I was a single mother of four when I started taking classes at City College of San Francisco,” Helen said. “If it weren’t for the community college system, I wouldn’t have had a career and been able to provide for my family. For many, it’s the only way for a new beginning.”

In addition to raising awareness of the needs of students, Hands Across California was held to encourage people to take action by supporting the California Community Colleges Scholarship Endowment, a permanent fund that provides annual scholarships to thousands of students every year.

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