UPS (NYSE: UPS) today announced a charitable initiative to create Logistics Emergency Teams (LETs) for American Red Cross chapters in Atlanta, Houston, New Orleans and the San Francisco Bay area, expanding the reach of the company's urgent humanitarian relief program. Through this effort, UPS will provide logistics expertise, transportation and warehousing to local Red Cross Disaster Services Coordinators in the event of a large-scale emergency.

To support planning for disaster response and post-crisis recovery efforts, assigned UPS LETs coordinators will work with each Red Cross chapter on needed logistics by providing skilled volunteers, transport of supplies to affected areas and allocating space for storage.

"The LETs initiative leverages the capacity and resources of UPS's U.S. network to support the Red Cross with our mutual goal of providing more effective and efficient relief for devastated communities," said Myron Gray, UPS senior vice president of U.S. operations. "The LETs program with the American Red Cross in the U.S. is another component in UPS's continued commitment to leveraging its people, logistics expertise and global network to provide urgent humanitarian relief all around the world."

In collaboration with global humanitarian relief partners, UPS has provided dollars, expertise and people in recent emergencies including the tsunami in Southeast Asia, Hurricane Katrina, the earthquake in Haiti and the Chilean mine disaster. For three decades, UPS has partnered with the American Red Cross to improve the safety and well-being of local communities through financial, logistical and volunteer support. UPS is a proud member of the American Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program.

"The time to plan and prepare for a disaster is not when a disaster strikes," says Michael Brown, vice president at the American Red Cross. "Research shows that when the proper humanitarian relief processes and systems are in place ahead of a devastating event, lives are saved. We have seen the benefits of partnering with UPS's proven global logistical capabilities in a number of urgent humanitarian situations and we are eager to expand this relationship."

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