Feeling the Love

The social responsibility award recognition we received on October 30th from the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai was especially sweet in that the China office of ORBIS International initiated the award application process.

The award is the fruit of a wonderful ongoing collaboration between FedEx and ORBIS. We certainly “feel the love” from ORBIS. They are so gracious and appreciative of the support we provide them.

If you believe as I do that the most effective corporate social responsibility programs are related to a company’s core competencies, the connection between ORBIS, a blindness prevention agency, and FedEx is not immediately apparent. However, when one learns that ORBIS operates the world’s only Flying Eye Hospital, a converted DC10, the fit becomes clear. We provide maintenance for their plane, volunteer pilots and complimentary transportation services in support of their medical programs worldwide. Sometimes our employee volunteers get to see patients walk onto the flying eye hospital blind and walk off seeing after receiving treatment.

One time an ORBIS mechanic asked one of ours if he could borrow a flashlight. The FedEx mechanic asked him to come back in a few minutes and one would be on the shelf. When the ORBIS mechanic returned there was not one but several flashlights on the shelf as word got out to our maintenance team that ORBIS needed a flashlight. Yep. ORBIS and FedEx. Feeling the love.