Empowering MedShare to Help More than 12,500 People

Each year, many around the globe unite in the spirit of giving and activism for a day that’s called Giving Tuesday. And on that note, it seems a fitting time to report on a recent collaboration that resulted in medical aid being sent to help more than 12,500 people in Venezuela.

In partnership with Postmates and the Flexport.org Fund, MedShare shipped a 40’ container to Panama, ultimately reaching the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Venezuelan Red Cross (VRC). The shipment contained high-quality, life-saving medical supplies, including 77 clean birthing kits and biomedical equipment. The IFRC and VRC distributed the goods to eight hospitals and 33 outpatient health centers throughout Venezuela, providing medical care to those in need.

Today, the supplies are being distributed in selected indigenous communities of the Delta Amacuro state, located on the Caribbean coast and are being used to improve the health of more than 12,500 people. Through the distribution, the VRC aims to reach the most vulnerable groups in the region, including children under five years old, pregnant women, elderly people, people with disabilities, and people with pre-existing illnesses. The responding organizations developed a data collection system to obtain the demographic information of people aided by the distribution and will continue to report on the shipment’s impact.

How The Partnership Came Together

Since 2014, Venezuela has been experiencing a humanitarian crisis with unprecedented challenges. As of September 2019, the UN estimates that 7 million people require general humanitarian aid, with 40% requiring healthcare assistance. Both infant and maternal mortality rates are increasing as socioeconomic conditions continue to deteriorate due to hyperinflation, collapsing water and power services, and shortages in food, medicine, and fuel.

Postmates, a long-time Flexport.org partner, has deep roots in—and a commitment to—supporting communities. The organization is transforming the way goods move around cities by enabling anyone to have anything delivered on-demand; this value extends beyond their consumer facing business and into its non-profit efforts. While Venezuela is out of reach for their core services, the Postmates team was committed and passionate about helping those in need. That’s where Flexport.org came in.

Flexport.org enables organizations to deliver global aid and impact and meet their sustainability goals through a range of services, including recently announced Flexport.org Fund. The Flexport.org Fund empowers individual donors and organizations to subsidize shipping and freight service costs for NGOs and donation shipments from Flexport clients. For Postmates, this meant that while the company could not directly service those in need, they could help by contributing funds to partners supporting humanitarian aid.

The Flexport.org team immediately reached out to its longstanding partner MedShare. Dedicated to improving the quality of life of people, communities, and the planet, MedShare sources and directly delivers surplus medical supplies and equipment to communities and health clinics in need around the world. The goods sent are exactly the kind needed to treat Venezuelan refugees lacking critical access to care throughout the crisis.

With Postmates donation via the Flexport.org Fund, Flexport applied their funds to cover the full cost of MedShare’s shipment and further supported this effort with the dedicated logistics support and visibility of Flexport.org’s services.

Making Giving Tuesday an Everyday Thing

The collaboration between Flexport.org, Postmates, MedShare, the IFRC, and VRC is just one example of the impact that can be achieved when companies and individuals partner to address the world’s most complex and pressing challenges. While the Flexport.org Fund will help ship more aid to communities in need, it can’t happen without support. Please join Flexport in this effort by donating today, or getting in touch to create new partnerships. Contact fund@flexport.com.