FedEx has launched its seventh annual FedEx Cares Week offering its employees around the worldvolunteer and service opportunities to improve the quality of life in the communities where they
live and work.As part of the annual event, taking place from 17-23 September in the Asia Pacific regionand from 12-17 September everywhere else around the world, nearly 4,000 FedEx volunteers willdonate a combined 20,000 hours working for local organisations. FedEx employees will serve theircommunities in countries and territories such as Australia, Brazil, China, Mexico and the UnitedKingdom, and in more than 30 US cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Indianapolis,Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, New York, Newark, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Othercountries to be added this year include Canada, Spain, Italy, India, the UAE and Switzerland.
FedEx Cares Week serves as the formal kick-off for the annual US FedEx United Way campaign, anational charity that distributes funding to individuals and communities in need across the UnitedStates. In addition to volunteering hundreds of thousands of hours each year, FedEx and itsemployees gave more than $14 million to the United Way in 2010 and more than $175 million over thepast fifteen years.
This year’s projects include environmental activities in the Asia Pacific region such as treeplanting and greening of beaches and urban spaces. In Latin America, they will be able to restoreschools, orphanages, homes for the elderly and ill people or spend time with HIV-infected people.In the USA, volunteers can provide food bank assistance as well as assist in renovation andclean-up projects for children and senior citizens, and support the homeless and adults withdisabilities.
In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, they have the possibility to support disadvantagedchildren and hospitals with books, school supplies, painting activities, and fundraising forchildren with long-term diseases. In support of UNICEF’s relief effort in the Horn of Africa, anemployee donation drive is organised which coincides with in-kind transportation provided by FedExwith two B-777 relief aid flights into Kenya with food assistance.
“FedEx Cares Week creates deeper connections between our FedEx employees and the localcommunities we serve,” said Stephanie Butler, manager of Global Citizenship at FedEx. “Every day,FedEx employees passionately help customers solve logistics challenges. Through FedEx Cares Week,our employees extend that passion to help local communities with critical social issues.”
FedEx Cares Week was launched in the USA in 2005 and has expanded to more than 40 countries andterritories around the globe since then.
