UPS encourages employees to lend hand, logistics expertise during volunteer month

ATLANTA–The UPS Foundation, the philanthropic arm of UPS, said 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.”

For the 10th year in a row, UPS is encouraging its 400,000 employees to l”end 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.”