UPS announced that employees on five continents will participate in the company’s 15th annual Global Volunteer Month. UPS estimates employees will donate 335,000 volunteer hours in October to 240 community service events taking place across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Indian subcontinent, Middle East and Africa. The Global Volunteer Month volunteer hours will help UPS reach 2.15 million volunteer hours in 2017.

“UPS volunteers are our most powerful force for good in the communities in which we live, work and operate,” said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation and chief diversity and inclusion officer for UPS. “As we launch our 15th annual Global Volunteer Month, UPS and The UPS Foundation are committed to activating employees throughout the world to follow their passion, help those most in need, and, advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals which will lift all communities. We have all witnessed in Texas, Florida, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the islands in the Caribbean how volunteer efforts help make a significant difference in these devastated communities. We honor our employees for their contributions around the world."

The 335,000 hours contribute to UPS’s commitment to volunteer 20 million community service hours by the end of 2020. UPS is more than 70 percent toward this goal. Through UPS’s membership with IMPACT 2030, UPS continues to encourage global employee volunteering to help advance the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

The UPS Foundation leads UPS’s global citizenship programs, including Global Volunteer Month. The UPS Foundation encourages employees from every region to volunteer their time to programs around the world. Global Volunteer Month helps increase focus on volunteerism and community service in October so UPS employees can make a big impact. To date, UPS volunteers have donated nearly 2 million hours over the past 15 years during Global Volunteer Month alone.

At the end of Global Volunteer Month each year, UPS awards $10,000 grants to 14 non-profit organizations UPS employees volunteer at in each U.S. region, international region and business unit.

Featured Global Volunteer Month projects include:

• United States: Supporting logistics efforts at the Marine Corps Marathon, helping with fundraising efforts for the Special Olympics, and working on food drive and distribution programs across the U.S. with the United Way and Feed My Starving Children.

• Canada: Planting trees with the Credit Valley Conservation and helping with repairs and renovations at Youth Without Shelter and the Darling Home for Kids.

• Latin America: Working at the 2nd Beneficent Futeball Cup UPS Brazil to benefit the Institute of Child Cancer Treatment and hosting and awards event for Associação Paradesportiva Jr, a sports club for disabled athletes.

• Europe: Updating an Automated External Defibrillators map for Saving Lives and supporting logistics efforts at an AIDS Charity Event Run of Colours 2017.

• Asia-Pacific: Planting trees at Kranji Marshes with Garden City Fund, planting mangrove trees and clearing planting areas with Global Environment Center, and visiting orphanages with World Vision China.

• ISMEA: Removing trash with Coastal Clean-up, farming and gardening with the Bambanani Food & Herb Cooperative, and donating blood in local areas.

• UPS Global Headquarters (Atlanta), Chicago Area Consolidation Hub, Information Services New Jersey (IS NJ): Packing meals for children around the world with Feed My Starving Children and cheering on runners and helping with logistics at the AIDS Walk Atlanta 5K.

• UPS® Freight: Supporting efforts with the American Cancer Society and improving landscape areas with Richmond Public Schools and Patrick Henry School of Science & Arts.

• UPS Airlines: Working at Halloween events at the Louisville Zoo and supporting the Special Olympics through the UPS Plane Pull to help raise funds for athletes to participate. Teams will compete to see who can pull a 160,000 pound UPS cargo plane 12 feet in the shortest time.