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2002 Press Releases
Beijing, February 18, 2004 –FedEx Express (FedEx), the world's largest express transportation company, received the Global Humanitarian Award for providing cash and in-kind contributions to ORBIS for more than twenty years at the ORBIS Saving Sight Worldwide gala in New York City.
With Yue-Sai Kan as the hostess of the ceremony, ORBIS International hosted a noteworthy gala commemorating the accomplishments of FedEx and ORBIS volunteer doctors and nurses over the past 21 years. In that time more than 500 programs in 81 countries have trained more than 63,000 doctors and nurses. With China as the evening’s theme, entertainment featured talented performers from China. Being ORBIS International’s Global Sponsor and having provided continuous and comprehensive contributions for more than twenty years, FedEx Express was recognized by ORBIS and thousands of patients for its philanthropy and was issued the Global humanitarian Award.
Mr. Don Barber, Senior Vice President of FedEx Express, representing FedEx attended the gala and received the award from Al Ueltschi, President and Chairman of ORBIS International Board of Directors. "This award demonstrates the continued focus and determination of FedEx to play an active role in sponsoring community programs," said Mr. Don Barber, "We are honored to be able to utilize our integrated and extensive network to fly ORBIS wherever it is needed . All of us, working together, can help eradicate the tragedy of avoidable blindness ."
"We're proud to assist ORBIS in delivering the gift of sight to millions of people throughout the developing world." Said Mr. Frederick Smith, Chairman & CEO of FedEx, "As a global provider of reliable time-definite transportation, this is a significant way FedEx can give back to the communities we serve."
The support FedEx has given ORBIS has taken a myriad of forms: from shipping urgently needed medical supplies to ORBIS program sites throughout the world, loaning an entire jet engine for ORBIS’s flying eye hospital, donating the services of a full-time aircraft maintenance technician and volunteer pilots, and funding a glaucoma awareness campaign in China. FedEx literally keeps the flying eye hospital in the air, bringing sight to thousands of men, women, and children throughout the world.
FedEx Community Program Highlights in China
FedEx assisted ORBIS’s sight-gifting trip to Fuzhou in July 2002 bringing over 60 patients back to the world of light. Besides ORBIS, FedEx has been actively involving itself in a variety of community programs for the common good in China. One of the activities that attracted the most attention was using its extensive global transportation network to successfully deliver two giant panda shipments from China to US, airlifting the unique “ambassador of Sino-US relationship” respectively to Washington D.C. in December 2000 and to Memphis in April 2003. The original programs aroused people’s interest and concern in protecting wild exotic animals. FedEx is always the first to provide aid where there is need. In June 2003 FedEx also airlifted medical supplies to 7 locations in Mainland China, in cooperation with Hong Kong Red Cross, to assist the Chinese Government’s fight against SARS. FedEx provided free shipments of medicine and medical equipment for China Agape Foundation in its Wuhan Mission last November, which saved more than 50 poor children from serious heart diseases. More shipments via FedEx continue coming in China. In Education FedEx applied its talents in helping China develop its express industry by training local personnel. In May 2002 in order to better develop a generation of local express and logistic local experts, FedEx donated RMB 500,000 to the UIBE-DTW Logistics Research Centre. The centre was jointly set up in March 2001, by the University of International Business and Economy (UIBE), and Da Tian W. Air Service Corporation (DTW), FedEx’s joint venture partner. FedEx donated RMB 530,000 in July 2003 to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) to support an education program called International Leadership Program-China (ILP) initiated by MOC and Boston University. It aims to provide international management training to senior officials within the Chinese government. These are some of the many programs that were either sponsored or supported by FedEx in China, as part of its long-standing commitment to China.
About FedEx Express
FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., connects areas that generate 90% of the world's gross domestic product, in 24-48 hours, with a door-to-door customs-cleared service. The company's unmatched air route authorities and infrastructure make it the world's largest express transportation company, providing fast, reliable and time-definite transportation of more than 3.3 million items to 214 countries each working day. FedEx employs approximately 143,500 employees and has more than 48,800 drop-off locations, 640 aircraft and more than 45,000 vehicles in its integrated global network.
About ORBIS
ORBIS is best known for its ‘flying eye hospital’. In the mid-1970’s, an ophthalmologist from Texas, Dr. David Paton, conceived the idea of an airborne, ophthalmological teaching hospital. With the help of United Airlines and the United States Agency for International Development ORBIS flying eye hospital took flight in 1982 and began to conduct its mission in blindness prevention and treatment. Since 1982, ORBIS has visited 80 countries, implemented more than 500 medical programmes and trained more than 50,000 doctors and nurses in sight saving skills. By ‘training the trainers’, it is estimated that ORBIS has reached millions of blind people as doctors and nurses make use of their updated skills.
In the past decade, ORBIS progressively shifted its attention and resources to more cost effective training and capacity building projects with local partners, which make blindness prevention and treatment more efficient. Through the cooperative programs in capacity building with local partners, ORBIS enables them to be more independent and sustainable.
ORBIS is the pioneer of global blindness prevention, including Vision 2020: The right of sight of WHO. ORBIS is one of the advocating organizations and is a member of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.
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