MANILA, Philippines—When it comes to distributing and forwarding goods for a cause, few know better about handling the human goodness of volunteerism than the men and women of logistics company United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS).
Over 18,000 volunteer hours around Asia-Pacific has been recorded for the UPS 7th Global Volunteer Month, which started as a weeklong volunteerfest in 2003. This year, it brought together 4,000 employees to the fold, where 574 of them came from the Philippines on Oct. 24-25.
Setting the relevance of how to help, UPS Philippines’ management changed gears on the last minute, deciding to bring its fleet of employees to the National Resource Operations Center inside the Department of Social Work and Development compound in Pasay City, instead of their earlier plan to plant trees at Ipo Dam watershed in Bulacan.
The weekend team
For Jomel Villamina, he repacked goods from the stacks of donated supplies inside one of the four warehouses, making sure each plastic pouch gets the right number of canned foods, noodles and non-perishable rations intended for evacuees of Tropical Storms “Ondoy” and “Pepeng.”
Villamina is part of a weekend team from UPS that saw through the preparations of putting up labels in blue plastic water containers and piling cooking pots, pans and pails before the goods are going to be distributed to evacuation sites.
The 27-year-old import billing clerk from Laguna clocked in 4 hours, together with 573 other volunteers to clock in a total of 2,296 hours.
Like in many parts of the country, the wave of volunteerism overcame whatever wave of destruction brought by the back-to-back storms. No other upsurge had been more welcome than the gesture of surrendering one’s own time in exchange for extending survival for others.
Doing his share
Villamina did his share. He signed up for the annual project this year on his own volition and went early out from home in Laguna. He was like everyone else in the warehouse who knew how much he could help the victims of the typhoons.
Except that Jomel Villamina was a victim of Ondoy himself.
He said the floodwaters reached chest-high in his home and his family had to leave his Village. He described De La Paz Village in Biñan as a “ghost town” and now temporarily lives in an apartment.
He fears that if Typhoon Milenyo’s floodwaters took 3 months for the water to subside, he’s afraid that the recent storms would now take it longer for him to get his life back, probably reaching 6 months.
“I’m just happy that my whole family is safe,” Villamina said. “Yung maitutulong mo na rin sa kapwa mo, kung ano yung kaya mo. Kahit mismo nasalanta, pero nakatalulong ka sa ibang tao, masaya ka na rin. (Whatever you could do to help others, in your own little way counts. Even if you’re a victim of the same cause, you’ll be happy to know you were able to help),” he added.
From rank-and-file to bosses
Even UPS managing director Tim Gohoc joined his men in packing up the goods.
“Global Volunteer Month could not have come at a better time for UPS Philippines’ employees. We are given the opportunity to make a significant contribution to our fellow Filipinos who are still living with the effects of the past two storms,” Gahoc said in a statement, declining an interview during the repacking as he preferred to concentrate on the workload.
Aside from helping out in the relief efforts of the DSWD, UPS Philippines also loaned out their 2 big delivery trucks in partnership with the United Nations World Food Program, along with their logistics director Oliver Bartolo to manage the inflow and outflow of goods.
“We choose what we thought is appropriate, timely and relevant to the needs. But of course we have to also keep them involved,” said Rolly Nieva, HR director for UPS Philippines.
Aside from the manpower contribution, UPS Foundation also donated $40,000 to the Autism Society of the Philippines and $35,000 to the Parañaque Don Galo Volunteer Firefighters Inc.
Plus to encourage even greater participation from employees this year, UPS Foundation is set to donate $100,000 through a contest, where 10 employees have been picked to win a $10,000-contribution during the Global Volunteer Month.
