OPTUS CELEBRATES 14 YEARS OF GIVING December 7, 2009
Jonesboro, AR - Optus, Inc. recently celebrated its 14th annual Parade of Toys toy drive, with a reception on Friday, December 4. Each year, in partnership with the Arkansas Department of Human Services, Optus purchases new toys as Christmas gifts for foster children in Northeast Arkansas. Since this program's inception, Optus has donated more than $46,000 in new toys to ADHS.
"This program gets better and better every year. It is really an amazing experience to see our employees and their families get involved in making Christmas a little brighter for so many kids," said Lori Smith, Human Resources Manager at Optus.
Through an annual agreement with the Jonesboro Kmart store, Optus employees are offered a one-day opportunity to shop for the Parade of Toys Christmas list. Optus funds the purchase in its entirety and the store contributes by discounting all Optus Parade of Toys purchases by ten percent. With help from the Safe Jonesboro Coalition, Optus also donated 13 car seats to be used by employees of ADHS to transport children. This year alone, Optus spent $3,124 on over 65 kids in Northeast Arkansas.
"I'm glad that our company can do something like this for so many children in our area. It's very rewarding," commented Mark Duckworth, President and CEO of Optus. "It's a truly meaningful experience for our employees, and they are great about continuing to come back year after year to help us with this project on their own time after work," said Smith.
Headquartered in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Optus, Inc. has been providing businesses with communications solutions for 18 years. Now a leading national supplier of new and refurbished voice, video and data business communications parts, solutions and services, the company employs a total of 130 sales, service and administrative professionals in five states.
