Serve Like a Superhero: Episode 12
“We have awesome powers, my X-Men. It is our birthright… And, perhaps, our burden. But, with that power comes responsibility — and also accountability.” This is what Professor Xavier told his X-Men as they united to use their mutant powers for good—and in spite of being widely feared.
Large corporations are often also widely feared. We recognize that they—like the X-Men—have powers that could be used to the detriment of others. These other might be their own employees or people in the communities where they are based. But many companies today seek to exercise accountability for this power through Corporate Social Responsibility. And Serve the City seeks to give them a diversity of options to be united in this goal!
In this episode, we explore the very fruitful partnership between STC and UPS, the world’s largest transportation company! Just as the X-Men use their varied abilities together to accomplish the greatest good, so these two remarkable organizations, united, are making a huge difference as UPS employees are mobilized as volunteers and as UPS uses their logistical skills to enhance impact! (And there was so much to tell, that this is just Part 1…)
Listen to this episode here:
We started our episode in the dining room of the UPS Brussels Administrative Office. The tables were set with all the implements needed for 15 people to make delicious fruit salads!
On this day, UPS employees took an hour from their morning to make fruit salads for the Red Cross Centre. These fruit salads would be served as an appreciated “extra” alongside the regular meals provided there for people on the streets, migrants and refugees.
Wiktoria and Alice, STC Brussels employees, came along to facilitate the project. Here, Wiktoria introduces the project and Serve the City’s goals to the UPS volunteers (while Shannon Deal from Serving Stories records).
And this is Andrea Petersen, the UPS leader of today’s project! Andrea is both a long-term UPSer, and a long-term Serve the City project leader, and acts as a liaison to unite the two locally. (We will see more from her below.)
Looks like the employees are working hard on their volunteer project!
UPS is a global partner of Serve the City, as the two unite to serve the communities where they co-exist. In many cities in Europe and the Middle East, STC provides volunteering opportunities for UPS workers, and UPS helps facilitate the STC projects with their logistics expertise.
Below, Serve the City Emirates serves an Easter Community Dinner for migrant workers in Dubai. Karan Fatas, the leader of STC Emirates, told us that it has become a yearly tradition for UPS workers to be involved in serving this dinner.
But that’s not all! About 15 children of UPS workers also volunteered, arranging the seating for the guests! Each child received a certificate for their participation. (Karen Fatas is in the centre, with long hair.)
(You can hear more about what Serve the City Emirates is doing with migrant workers in Dubai in this episode: Courage: Dreaming New Dreams in the Big City.)
We also heard a story from Serve the City Hannover, in Germany, about how UPS came to the rescue! The City Leader, Stefan Rose, told us how another corporate partner, a large hotel, donated 300 sets of bedding for STC to distribute to women’s shelters. The catch was that the bedding needed to be out within a week… and UPS used their logistics skills to move all the donations to a safe place.
The cooperation between UPS and STC began in Brussels with one UPS employee. Third from left is Anne Coppens, who worked with HR in UPS starting around 2011. She had already been a Serve the City volunteer for a number of years. When she started at UPS and was told she was in charge of volunteering at her site, she saw that the diversity of projects offered by Serve the City would be a draw for more UPSers to get involved. The picture above is from a Christmas Eve Party for people in need with the Salvation Army, one of the project partners of Serve the City.
One of the people Anne Coppens recruited to serve was Andrea Petersen, shown here at her very first Serve the City project! Note the “United As One”shirt worn by Andrea, just as in the UPS photos above! The project was cleaning up a community centre that served underprivileged kids in a tough area of town. Even though this was not her favorite way of serving, Andrea kept coming back until she found her serving niche.
Andrea told us that one of the reasons that she came back was that the project leader, Osama (centre of photo) made sweeping the floor so fun for her daughter that she brought with her. Andrea continued to come back and continued to bring her kids. Now she is not only the liaison for the local UPS office, but a long-term STC project leader herself.
Eventually, Andrea (in corner of top left picture) found her volunteering sweet spot in a project serving homeless people living on the streets. These pictures are from a project back in 2019.
She continued to do this with her kids, and other kids, and loves to see the smiles on the faces of people who receive this kindness… like the little girl with the doll above! We will be bringing you a story about Andrea’s project currently next month!
In 2024, Andrea was awarded the James Casey Award for Community Service by UPS for the Europe/Middle East Region. This award, named after the UPS founder is the highest award that can be given to a UPS employee. And the Brussels STC team was there to cheer her on as she received it!
UPS is a remarkable company when it comes to community service, continuing to follow in their founder’s footsteps. If you wish to know more about Jim Casey and the values-based company he founded, you might want to read this article.
