ALAN Humanitarian Logistics Awards

The American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) has announced the 2020 winners of its Humanitarian Logistics Awards.

“The pandemic and numerous other disasters of the past twelve months will likely be remembered for death and destruction, but today we’re honored to recognize a few of the people and businesses that have been a beacon of hope during some of the darkest days,” said ALAN Executive Director Kathy Futon. “This is our fourth year presenting these awards, and each year the honorees continue to amaze me with the work that they do to support communities affected by crisis.”

This year’s recipients include:

• Gary LeBlanc of Mercy Chefs, who received ALAN’s Lifetime Achievement Award
• Uber Freight, which received ALAN’s Outstanding Contribution To Disaster Relief Efforts Award
• The Hub Group, which received ALAN’s Outstanding Contribution To Disaster Relief Efforts Award
• Bergen Logistics, which received ALAN’s Outstanding Contribution To Disaster Relief Efforts Award
• Western Union Foundation, which received ALAN’s Outstanding Contribution To Disaster Relief Efforts Award
• Surge Transportation and Riskpulse, which received ALAN’s Employee Engagement Award
• Leah Beaulac of the World Food Programme, who received special recognition for Innovation in Humanitarian Response
• Dr. Gyöngyi Kovács of Hanken School of Economics, who received ALAN’s Research and Academic Contributions Award.

LeBlanc earned his lifetime achievement honors for the work he has done with Mercy Chefs, a disaster relief and humanitarian organization that serves professionally prepared, restaurant-quality meals to survivors and first responders in emergencies and natural disasters. Founded in 2006, Mercy Chefs has already served more than 7.6 million meals, including 5 million during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Uber Freight earned its award for moving more than 1.2 million pounds of freight free of charge for more than 20 non-profit organizations during the COVID-19 crisis.

ALAN is an industry-wide organization that exists to provide supply chain assistance to disaster relief organizations (and other non-profits).

Hub Group was honored for donating 211 refrigerated trailer units to 59 unique non-profit organizations, adding up to over 9 million cubic feet, the equivalent of over two average-sized refrigerated warehouses.  This donation benefitted both healthcare organizations and food banks, including Feeding America, who were able to provide more fresh food to communities that were stricken with joblessness and a higher dependency on food banks.

Bergen Logistics received its honor for receiving, storing and staging 32 containers’ worth of tents, beds and other critically needed medical supplies that helped equip and support New York City area hospitals during the start of the COVID-19 crisis.

Western Union Foundation was honored for providing funding to support relief efforts in disaster-impacted communities across the globe, including a $133,000 grant that has enabled Save The Children and United Way India to serve more than 138,000 survivors of the Kerala, India floods.

Surge Transportation and Riskpulse merited their awards for the hundreds of hours that volunteers from their organizations have dedicated to co-creating and maintaining ALAN’s Supply Chain Intelligence Center, a free resource that enables businesses to monitor the real-time status of roads, ports and airports in disaster-impacted areas – and to find out the latest policy changes at the national, state, local and county levels.

Beaulac was honored for recognizing the need for masks in the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh and for creating an innovative supply chain and distribution model to gather materials, supply PPE and provide cash-for-work opportunities for camp residents.

Kovács was lauded for her numerous contributions to the research of humanitarian supply chains, including being the first professor in humanitarian logistics worldwide. She has devoted her career to improving humanitarian outcomes through the application of solid supply chain principles, and has done extensive work around the globe putting her research into action.

“Each of these recipients is living proof that humanitarianism isn’t just a one-time event – and that true service extends well beyond a single disaster.  It truly is part of their corporate DNA and personal passion,” Fulton said. “We’re grateful to them for the many contributions they have made, and we are proud to recognize them today.”