Over the course of 20 years, FedEx Ground has invested in the future of our kids and communities. Their dedicated partnership has provided $1.4 million in support of the care, treatment, research, and cures provided at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh every day. Year after year, FedEx Ground ensures that together, we can achieve the healthy future every child deserves.
FedEx Ground began their support of UPMC Children’s in 2002, supporting the Free Care Fund and Child Life, and throughout their giving have supported other programs such as Sickle Cell Camp, Free Care Fund Telethon on KDKA-TV, Distraction Therapy, Art Therapy, and many more. FedEx Ground encourages their employees to volunteer and participate in local toy drives, which is inspiring them to both invest in as well as serve the communities where they live and work.
Most recently, FedEx Ground has supported Creative and Expressive Arts Therapy (CEAT) and Injury Prevention.
“FedEx Ground is proud to invest in and serve the communities where our team members live and work. The Creative and Expressive Arts Therapy and Injury Prevention programs are designed to benefit children and their families, and as such, our support provides a safe environment for those in our region,” says Steve Myers, who serves as the Senior Vice President, Transportation Systems and Chief Postal Officer at FedEx Ground. “Like many in our community, I have seen firsthand the quality of care provided by the team at UPMC Children’s.”
Recognizing the Healing Power of the Arts
Through their support of CEAT, FedEx Ground is improving the lives of patients and families every day, by providing new art supplies and new instruments to support personalized one-on-one programming. This support allows the CEAT team to be nimble in addressing each patient and family’s needs – in the moment that they need it the most.
Children who are hospitalized for illness or trauma need all the help we can offer them, and creative and expressive art therapy is one of the best means available. The CEAT program at UPMC Children’s provides an outlet to kids too little to understand their disease, for parents scared about their child’s future, or for a teenager who just needs 10 minutes away from needles and tests. While we have talented, accomplished physicians, nurses, and professional staff at UPMC Children’s who work tirelessly to treat a child’s physical condition, our board-certified art and music therapists help to treat the spirit. There is a growing body of evidence to support the impact of this type of therapy: with the right services and support in place, art therapy can help our patients and families find renewed strength, decrease the need for pain medications, and accelerate healing.
FedEx Ground has helped to expand and sustain the CEAT program at UPMC Children’s.
The Importance of Keeping Children and Families Safe
FedEx Ground’s generosity is keeping our region’s children and families more safe and more prepared to prevent injuries. Thanks to FedEx Ground, Injury Prevention can reach more families and provide them with the tools that they need to protect their children.
FedEx Ground has sponsored a storage van, which allowed the Injury Prevention team to find new, accessible ways to provide safety help to families who need it most, including:
- Hard Heads Program: The team transported over 4,000 helmets at 50 events, which were distributed directly to our region’s children to keep them safe while riding their bikes.
- Teen Drivers Program: The van made it possible to transport a large driving simulator, computer system, and other equipment to community locations.
- Gun Safety: The team transported firearm safes and locks (and ATV helmets) to areas in New Castle and West Virginia, allowing over 200 firearm safes, 300 firearm locks, and hundreds of helmets to be delivered and distributed to families.
Injury Prevention at UPMC Children’s uses the science of injury research and evidence-based intervention to support healthy and safe environments for our region’s children and families. Regionally, UPMC Children’s clinicians treat more than 19,000 children and young adults every year for injuries. Injury Prevention at UPMC Children’s continues to play a key role in fostering both accessible safety interventions for parents of young children and good decision-making in formative years for children and adolescents. Thanks to FedEx Ground, this program has been able to thrive.
We thank FedEx Ground for their support of these and other critical programs, which help to make UPMC Children’s a top pediatric facility. If you are feeling inspired and would like to get your company involved with UPMC Children’s, contact Senior Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations Alana Kulesa at [email protected] or 412-692-3947.