I’m pleased to let you know that once again we were able to help make a difference in the lives of orphaned babies. In what took tremendous work and extraordinary logistics capabilities, our JFK Operations Team was able to coordinate a delivery of 200 bottles of donated breast milk to the disaster stricken Philippines in just 24 hours!

As you remember, last September, a tropical storm and a typhoon devastated Philippines, leaving more than 500 people killed and thousands more homeless. The most affected were as always children and infants.

That’s why we reacted immediately when a nurse in Manila sent an emergency request to the International Breast Milk Project and Quick asking for breast milk for babies, whose moms died in the recent typhoon. We formed a partnership between Prolacta Bioscience that was going to provide the milk, Philippine Airlines and JNE to get this done.

The delivery conditions were extremely difficult. Because of the typhoon, all flights were grounded, resulting in long delays. We started making inquiries to expedite licenses and permits and called the Philippine’s Embassy to get help cutting the red tape. We also contacted the airline management both in Los Angeles and Manila to let them know about the life-saving shipment and to plead our case.

Getting the package swiftly through the backlogged airports and customs was quite a challenge. But thanks to the collective effort, it was delivered to the hospital in less than 24 hours! The milk was secured in a freezer and it is now being distributed with the help of UNICEF to the evacuation shelters throughout the Philippines.

It's not the first time that Quick has donated its services to deliver donor breast milk, but I have never seen our JFK Team so excited. They did a great job.

Here are some of the pictures from the delivery in Manila: