UPS Olympics Sponsorship

UPS Delivers Olympic Sports Legacy to Youth Around the World

ATLANTA, June 17, 1999 -- When the Eagle Lodge Blue Pony Lacrosse program in Denver, Colo. was forced to borrow sticks from the local high school team last year, the UPS Olympic Sports Legacy program stepped in to help with shiny new ones. Now about a dozen more youths compete with other lacrosse leagues and high schools. This is part of the legacy that began in 1997 with UPS's donation of more than 500,000 pieces of new sports equipment to youth organizations in 18 cities in seven countries.

This year UPS is introducing the UPS Olympic Sports Legacy Award to its program and will donate $85,000 in grants to participating youth recreation organizations around the world.

The YWCA and YMCA, Police Athletic League, Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the Boy Scouts join many organizations that have enhanced their recreation programs as a direct result of the UPS Olympic Sports Legacy program. The new sports equipment donations by UPS offset other costs, allowing these organizations to offer new programs and increase participation. In Chicago, the Police Athletic League was able to start a bicycle safety-training course that is now a permanent program.

And in Australia, the Barnardos organization, working with homeless and other disadvantaged children, now offers in-line skating, boogie boarding and mountain bike programs.

UPS created Olympic Sports Legacy to foster sports development for youth as part of the company's worldwide sponsorship of the Olympic Games. The new award will recognize one individual in each Olympic Sports Legacy city for sportsmanship, community service and academic achievement. UPS will honor the Olympic Sports Legacy Award recipient with a special grant in the youth's name when it revisits each beneficiary organization for reunion celebrations this summer.

Local UPS employees and UPS community volunteers will host the Olympic Sports Legacy reunion celebrations, several of which will be held in association with worldwide Olympic Day on June 23. The children from the beneficiary organizations will meet Olympians and Olympic hopefuls and participate in athletic demonstrations and events using sports equipment donated by UPS. Olympic Sports Legacy is a natural extension of UPS's history of philanthropy and extends its Olympic involvement to the communities it serves around the world.

The beneficiary organizations were selected from UPS's 11 U.S. and four international operating regions with input from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the National Olympic Committees (NOCs). In the United States, assistance was provided by the United States Olympic Committee's (USOC) Champions in Life outreach program. Champions in Life uses Olympians to serve as role models to young people through school programs, interactive sports sessions and newsletters.

"UPS created the Olympic Sports Legacy program to give children around the world the opportunity to enjoy sports," said Rosemary Windsor-Williams, vice president, UPS Olympic and Corporate Events. "After launching the program in 1997, we realized there is a great need to support recreation programs with athletic equipment. With the continuation of the UPS Olympic Sports Legacy program, we hope to increase children's interest in sports and help make dreams of becoming an Olympic athlete a reality."

UPS is a worldwide Olympic partner providing global expertise to the IOC, NOCs, Olympic Games organizing committees, sports federations and national teams. UPS is the official express courier and package delivery service of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

1999 UPS Olympic Sports Legacy Reunion Celebrations

Date City Beneficiary Organization
June 19 Hartford, CT Boy Scouts of America
June 19 Oakland, CA YMCA
June 19 Chicago, IL Police Athletic League/Chicago Housing Authority

June 22 Philadelphia, PA Police Athletic League
June 23 Atlanta, GA Boys and Girls Club
June 23 Los Angeles, CA YWCA
June 23 Newark, NJ YMCA
June 25 Memphis, TN Amateur Athletic Union
June 29 Dallas, TX YWCA
July 4 Sydney, Australia Dr. Barnardos
July 7 Montreal, Canada Aboriginal Sports Circle
July 9 Taipei, Taiwan Chinese Children's Fund
July 10 Mexico City, Mexico DIF Boys Home

July 13 Toronto, Canada Aboriginal Sports Circle
TBD Paris, France various youth recreation clubs
TBD Frankfurt, Germany SOS Kinderdorf International
(May 22 Denver, CO Denver Indian Center)