Optima Chemical Reflects on the Importance and Power of Giving Back to Your Local Community
Optima Chemical Reflects on the Importance and Power of Giving Back to Your Local Community
By Gene Williams, President of Optima Chemical
The beginning of each new year offers our society the unique opportunity for reflection, introspection, and change. We all take the time to digest what has happened over the past 12 months and resolve to improve the ways we conduct ourselves personally and professionally in the year ahead. We set ourselves new goals and review our engagement with the people in our community, whether they be strangers, colleagues, family, or friends.
At Optima Chemical, one of our proudest achievements, and a core tenet of our company, is our dedication and ability to give back to the local communities in Douglas and Coffee County, especially when it comes to bettering the lives of children and students in the region. This is evident This is evident in our partnerships with charitable organizations like the Academic Booster Club of Coffee County, which aims to promote, support, recognize, and reward academic excellence within public schools. We also work with the South Georgia State College Foundation, which was created in 1971 to help to transform the lives of the school’s diverse student population by providing educational opportunities, financial support, and advocacy for its students. Additionally, Optima Chemical donates annually to other similarly focused charities in the area including Night to Shine, Boy Scouts of America, Coffee County Board of Education, Douglas Exchange Club, James M. Dye Foundation, Technology Student Association, and the STEAM Program, all of which are instrumental in helping to shape youngsters into future leaders.
Optima Chemical’s collaboration with each of these associations is very personal to us because we live, work and raise our families here in Coffee County and are dedicated to the community’s success and enrichment. Optima Chemical is dedicated to enabling the success of young people through academic achievement and helping people access necessary healthcare services in and around our community. Two particular points of pride for Optima Chemical’s faithfulness in these endeavors is our work with the Coffee Regional Medical Center (CRMC) Hospital Foundation, and the Boys & Girls Club, which Optima Chemical helped establish in 2013.
The stated purpose of the CRMC Hospital Foundation is to enhance CRMC’s impact on healthcare services to patients and families in Coffee and surrounding counties, now and for future generations. It strives to help provide life-saving tools like 3D Mammography Technology, which screens and detects breast cancer, as well as the Oncology Center, which offers all of South Georgia access to the treatment of adult malignancies — ranging from lung, colon, and breast cancers, to lymphomas, leukemias, and sarcomas — and a full spectrum of cancer care, including immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and chemotherapy. These services would not be possible without community support and Optima Chemical is honored to be a part of such a critical and noble cause.
The mission of the Boys & Girls Club is to “enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens,” which it carries out by providing a series of programs that help to shape the lives of those who participate in the program. Optima Chemical recognized that this was a program that provided local kids with a safe environment and dedicated, caring mentors who could help them realize their full potential. After careful planning, Optima Chemical helped create a local chapter of this foundational and instrumental organization eight years ago. We began by donating $10,000 per year for the next three years to assist with needed funding to form and operate the club. Since then, Optima Chemical’s continued financial contributions have helped capitalize on important programs like the Lights On After School Program, which provides much-needed meals, learning experiences, and new skills to at-risk-children. Optima Chemical has also been involved in financing critical fundraiser events such as Dancing with the Stars, Kickin’ It for the Kids, and Casino Night.
There is no doubt that the formation of the Boys & Girls Club has positively impacted the lives of many young people in our area, creating an outlet for them to positively engage with education and improve their academic performance. In fact, 97% of club teens expect to graduate from high school; 88% expect to complete a form of post-secondary education; 57% say the club saved their lives, and 81% agree that the club helped them to develop a sense of responsibility and a desire to give back to their community.
Optima Chemical’s commitment to supporting local charitable organizations has been in place since our company’s inception in 1991 and continues to expand with each passing new year. As 2021 continues to unfold, we at Optima Chemical are extremely proud to contribute and serve these highly beneficial and respectable groups and look forward to new opportunities to help improve the lives of people in our community well into the future.
