As part of the company’s annual Global Volunteer Month activities, employees from UPS teamed up with charitable organizations in Quezon City, Muntinlupa and Cebu to reinforce UPS’s commitment to giving back to the communities it serves around the world.
With this year’s projects marking a return to regular in-person activities after the switch to more virtual-based volunteerism during the pandemic, the programs provided UPS employees a chance to reconnect with the community and renew the company purpose of moving the world forward by delivering what matters.
“As this year’s global volunteer month activities draw to a close, we’re grateful to have been able to participate in more in-person projects, after having to get creative with how we carried out our volunteer programs over the last couple of years,” says Tessa Santos, UPS Philippines operation manager and Community Involvement Committee (CIC) executive sponsor.
“Two of our partners this year – SOS Children’s Village and Good Neighbors International Philippines – focus on building and supporting families and communities, which is the perfect example of delivering what matters where it’s needed most. In addition to giving us an opportunity to help the people of the community, it gives our employees a sense of accomplishment, and knowing that they are making a real difference to peoples’ lives is a hugely energizing experience.”
One of this year’s partner communities is SOS Children’s Village, an organization on a mission to build families for children in need. In order to give these children a support system and empower them to shape their own futures, UPS volunteers provided children, at first with virtual visits and then with physical ones, regular platforms on which to express themselves and build meaningful connections.
“The virtual visits we’ve done with UPS volunteers helped ensure that the social and emotional development and social integration of the children are supported,” said Romil I. Rayos del Sol, Deputy National Director of SOS Children's Villages in the Philippines.
“Our most recent project with UPS helps in providing basic needs such as food subsidies, educational supplies, additional school allowances, and funding for the improvement of the living situations in the village, youth facilities, and boarding houses. It also helps in strengthening youth empowerment and leadership by providing an opportunity to hone the leadership and project management skills of youth councils and interested young people by designing a Youth Leaders’ Summit.”
UPS also partners with another family-focused endeavor, Good Neighbors International Philippines. Established in 2008, Good Neighbors is dedicated to improving the lives of Filipinos, in particular children, through child sponsorship and community development programs. So far, the NGO has had an incredibly enlivening effect on the small town where Good Neighbors first set down roots.
“Prior to Good Neighbors, the community of Sitio Bakal was not known to many. The presence of Good Neighbors paved the way for opportunities which addressed the limitations of Sitio Bakal in terms of community involvement, livelihood and capacity building training,” said Good Neighbors’ Country Director Mr. Jae Choon Lee.
“The UPS employee engagement activity was another avenue for the Sitio Bakal community to showcase their sectoral activities and advocate for urban gardening. The facilitation of the hydroponics workshop boosted their self-confidence whilst the presentation of individual gardens gave them the opportunity to market their produce which the UPS employees wholeheartedly supported.”
“Global volunteer month is a hugely significant time in the UPS calendar and the last couple of years have shown that we’re not going to let anything get in the way of us reaching out to the community,” added Santos.
“UPS has a set of really ambitious ESG targets, one of which is to commit 30 million volunteer hours by 2030, and another is to positively impact a billion lives by 2040. At UPS Philippines it’s an honor to be playing our part in the company achieving these goals and to be making a positive difference to the people in the communities we proudly serve.”
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