For the 10th straight year, Pittsburgh-based FedEx Ground will sell, pack and assist in delivering daffodils to the Pittsburgh and Greensburg areas—and therefore deliver hope to the people who need it most; the people inflicted with and fighting cancer with courage and optimism.
“The reason we get involved is simple,” said Paul Viccaro, Managing Director of Facilities and Material Handling at FedEx Ground. “Cancer affects everyone.”
Like many, Paul and his family have been affected by cancer: he lost his mother and sister to the disease, which prompted him to get involved in the Daffodil Days campaign 10 years ago. Judy Upholster, a Project Manager at FedEx Ground, got involved with the Daffodil Days’ Westmoreland County campaign in 1985 after her mother’s struggle with breast cancer. She later joined the campaign with FedEx Ground, which has teamed up with the American Cancer Society to generate much-needed contributions to fund groundbreaking research, educate people about the importance of cancer prevention and early detection and advocate for meaningful public health policies that benefit the community. But how exactly does FedEx get involved?
“We take much of the logistics burden off of the ACS,” Paul said.
Every year nearly 50 FedEx Ground employees set up tables in the FedEx Ground Pittsburgh corporate headquarters where more than 2,000 employees have the opportunity to purchase daffodils and/or Bear And A Bunches® for loved ones. They can also have these items delivered anonymously to cancer patients at local hospitals, treatment centers, and other facilities in local communities. Paul believes the split between sending packages anonymously and sending them to loved ones is about 40/60.
“You can send packages anonymously in order to give others hope through understanding that people they don’t even know care about them,” he said.
Since 2004, FedEx Ground Corporate sales have more than tripled. In addition to the hundreds of orders taken at the FedEx Ground headquarters, the American Cancer Society sends these team members all orders from around the Pittsburgh and Greensburg areas. The employees box up the orders at a local FedEx facility and load into a trailer, which are then delivered to local businesses. FedEx and the American Cancer Society work as a great team, with FedEx offering its expertise in logistics and packaging.
It is no wonder the Greater Pittsburgh unit of the American Cancer Society has been number one in the nation in daffodil sales for the past eight years.
But the FedEx support doesn’t start and end in Pittsburgh. For over a decade, FedEx has provided in-kind shipping for millions of daffodils in several U.S. cities, as well as the entire state of California.
Paul, Judy and the entire FedEx Ground organization are proud once again to empower the American Cancer Society to continue its lifesaving work.
