Leidos has expanded its support of Ukraine through a partnership with Project HOPE, the humanitarian organization that trains health care workers and sends medical supplies to locations in crisis throughout the world.
Project HOPE began in the post-World War II era when a Navy doctor persuaded then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower to provide a decommissioned ship for use as a mobile clinic. Today, it deploys small groups of volunteers to distribute equipment and supplies as well as train larger numbers of native workers to deal with physical trauma and other health concerns compounded by wars, droughts and other conditions.
“When I was growing up, I remember the ship with ‘HOPE’ painted on the side in white letters,” Krone said during a recent talk with Project HOPE President and CEO Rabih Torbay. “That’s the icon a lot of people out there may still recall. The ship is long gone, but the mission has expanded much beyond that.”
Leidos provides corporate donations and employee donations through Project HOPE in what Krone said will be an ongoing partnership he expects to continue for some time.
“There are a few volunteers that go and help, but reality is, Ukrainians are very well-educated, and they’re very dedicated to seeing the country through the problems they’re going through now,” Torbay said. “The majority of our work has been training them on dealing with injuries, on dealing with trauma, ballistic injuries they don’t have much experience with, and providing them with support that they need.”
Project HOPE depends on corporate and individual sponsors to pay for the complicated and expensive task of getting supplies into a war zone, often through dispersal centers in multiple nearby countries.
“The support Leidos gave us as well was tremendous in getting that support out,” Torbay said.
Krone said Leidos is “thrilled” to partner with Project HOPE. The nonprofit provides relief in about 30 countries around the world, including Ethiopia and Nigeria, which are seeing a ripple effect of the war in Ukraine. It also publishes the journal Health Affairs.