Local News

UPS Makes Parks A Priority

October 19, 2017 / 12:16 PM EDT / CBS Miami

(Courtesy: Miami-Dade Parks)

By Edith Torres

Sea level is rising, summer temperatures are climbing and storms are raging — the effects of global warming are becoming more evident here in South Florida. But one company is doing its part to invest resources and sweat equity into greening Miami-Dade County by partnering with the Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade.

United Parcel Service (UPS) is a well-known global logistics and distribution company. Its Americas Region office is located here in Miami, and in October 2014 the company began its partnership with the Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade. Initially, UPS reached out to the Foundation for an employee-driven tree-planting volunteer project at Highland Oaks Park in northeast Miami-Dade. This volunteer project would help contribute to UPS' Global Forestry initiative, which had the goal of planting 15 million trees by 2020. It would also help with Parks' Million Trees Miami initiative, whose goal was planting one million trees in Miami-Dade County by 2020.

The Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade received a $25,000 grant from The UPS Foundation, which supplied the trees for the first employee tree-planting project that brought out more than 50 UPS Americas employees.

Since that first tree-planting project in 2014, UPS has hosted four annual tree plantings adding 176 trees to County parks, helped with two eco-restoration projects, logged approximately 1,000 employee volunteer service hours, and as of October 2017, donated $93,500 to the Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade.

Through the Parks Foundation's Adopt-A-Park program, residents, civic groups and corporations can provide financial or in-kind donations for worthy park improvements, including playground equipment, picnic tables, benches, site furniture, landscaping and trees, or help build landmark parks, as well as volunteer and services projects for clean-up, repairs and renovations of existing park facilities. Groups can also help provide programs for children, seniors, the disabled and at-risk communities

"We are grateful to The UPS Foundation and UPS Americas employees for their continued partnership with the Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade," says Raul A. Garcia, President of the Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade. "It's public/private partnerships such as this that help us in our mission to support Miami-Dade Parks, preserve, maintain and grow its beautiful parks and facilities, and provide quality recreational programs for all segments of society."

"UPS invests in causes that employees are passionate about, and the tree-plantings and the eco-restoration projects have been very well received by the employees," says Elizabeth Ibarra, Supervisor, Canada Enterprise Pricing at UPS Americas. "In addition to knowing the benefits of what these planted trees do to the environment and economy, like raise property values, attract businesses and tourists, UPS is also pleased to have found a partner that has the mutual goals of improving the place where we live and do business. We couldn't have found a better organization with which to partner."

For more information on the Adopt-A-Park program, Million Trees Miami Partnership/Sponsorship program or Donor program, call 305-755-7920 or visit www.liveaparklife.org.

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