My Nonprofit Reviews

The partnership between UPS and Agape started 3 years ago when I toured their facility during a day of caring event. During the tour, the founder, Steve Gieb, mentioned that nearly 1000 youth in the state of Ohio “age out” of the foster care system, with few resources for stable employment or an opportunity to continue their education. The youth emancipating from foster care at 18 years old, have a higher risk of dropping out of high school, being homeless, becoming teenage parents, being unemployed, being incarcerated or worse. After hearing Steve talk about the potential hardship these youth face when they turn 18, I started thinking about how good UPS has been to me and my family while I was a young adult. I connected with Steve after the tour and committed to finding or establishing a way for UPS to help the youth in Agape’s Bridging Hope and Futures program and aid their transition from foster care to personal and financial independence. I explained to Steve that UPS has a culture of longevity being in business for 110 years, a culture of partnership with ½ million employees across the globe, and many career advancement opportunities. UPS is not just our driver delivering your daily Amazon Prime packages. We are the 11th largest airline in the World, we offer financial services, we provide insurance, we have our own IT resources, our own fleet management, even our own proprietary delivery/routing software. Steve and his team was excited to start working with a company like UPS and since have expanded the ways for UPS to help youth in their Bridging Hope and Futures program.

So how does this partnership work today. UPS Sales, Operations and Human Resources partners in West Carrollton put together a variety of presentations for Agape’s youth that teach professional skills and awareness, as well as, a discussion of the long-term benefit of choosing employment with UPS. If UPS fits their skills and capabilities, a mechanism has been created in the application process to identify Agape as the employment referral. Once employment starts, a mentor is appointed to the youth to provide guidance and encouragement throughout their first year. These young adults will be provided an opportunity to grow and develop within UPS, which is the same opportunity I and many others have been provided. The UPS team in Dayton, OH is proud to partner with Agape and we share a vision of taking our partnership that we know will work on our local level and bring it to a national level.