UPS Philippines honored its 10th annual Global Volunteer Month by partnering with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines to enhance environmental awareness and education among the Filipino youth. 

More than 200 UPS Philippines employees and their family members dedicated their time to a day of painting seascapes on canvas at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center, Diliman, Quezon City, a shelter for 38 species of trees and shrubs, and sick, abandoned, injured or rescued animals.

Environmental Sustainability
As one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, the Philippines is home to mangrove, coral reef, forest and freshwater ecosystems, and to thousands of different species. For UPS Philippines, the activity provided employees with an opportunity to encourage younger Filipinos to learn more about the environment and what they can do to help protect it.
“One of the four focus areas of the UPS Foundation is environmental sustainability,” says Tim Gohoc, managing director of UPS Philippines. “We hope that through our efforts, more children will realize the diversity that has been gifted to the Philippines and that we all share the responsibility of protecting the environment and our natural resources,” he says.
UPS’s Global Volunteer Month initiative is part of the UPS Foundation’s ongoing partnership with WWF Philippines. Previously, the UPS Foundation awarded a $10,000 grant to the organization for My1Thing, a program to educate Filipinos on the impact of climate change.

In addition, the UPS Foundation has also awarded a $40,000 grant for “Simple Steps for Smarter Living,” an environmental life skills education program to be implemented in 20 public high schools in urban areas throughout the Philippines that are vulnerable to climate change and improper waste management.

Raising Awareness
For UPS employees, the Global Volunteer Month was also an opportunity for them to help their families learn more about sustainability and caring for the environment. “We live in a country rich in natural resources, and we must do what we can to protect it,” says Art Senseng, UPS Philippines HR manager.

“UPS has always embraced the philosophy of giving back to the community through volunteerism, and has been making incremental investments in resources to ensure that we are contributing to Asia’s development and growth at the pace it demands,” says Pete Elroy, vice-president of Human Resources, UPS Asia Pacific Region. “From the 2,400 employees that volunteered 10 years ago in the inaugural volunteer month, we are very pleased to share that nearly 5,700 Asia-Pacific employees, along with their families and friends, have contributed their hours in making their communities more environmentally sustainable this year. We look forward to delivering more in the years to come,” he enthuses.

Simultaneous Global Volunteer Month activities were also organized in Cebu and in Clark, Pampanga. Elsewhere throughout Asia, a total of 26,000 hours of service were rendered. Through the UPS Foundation, over $1.7 million in grants and charitable giving were distributed to about 50 non-profit organizations in 2012. Many of these grant beneficiaries have been organizations with whom UPS employees volunteer.