Community Involvement

Our employees dictate how we give back to our community

At Okuma, our commitment to community involvement aligns with our corporate values. Through our Employees Positively Influencing Community (EPIC) program, we encourage employee participation in an effort to build a stronger community for our future. Our employees choose the local 501c3 organizations they want to support on an annual basis from the following categories:

• Animal: includes welfare and services, wildlife conservation, and zoos
• Health: includes disease and disorder, medical research, and patient and family support charities
• International Non-Government (NGO): includes disaster relief, peace, and human rights
• Human Services: includes food banks, homeless services, social services, and youth development
• Education: includes support for students, teachers, and parents, as well as scholarships and financial aid services
• Environmental: includes parks/nature centers and environmental conservation

By ensuring that every Okuma employee has a voice in the way we give back to our community, we believe that makes for more meaningful fundraising and volunteering. Ultimately, everybody wins: the Okuma family works with organizations and causes that they’re passionate about—and our community grows stronger with every hour volunteered, and every dollar donated.

The organizations we currently support are:

Supportive Housing Communities: Supportive Housing Communities is a leader in Charlotte for ending homelessness. Besides pioneering the concept of providing permanent supportive housing to homeless people with disabilities, they pride themselves on a 97% success rate of keeping our residents in stable housing. One of the most basic needs for members in our community is a safe and affordable home.

HopeMatch Angel Tree: HopeMatch is a local charity serving those who are unseen and underserved in the greater Charlotte, NC, area. The HopeMatch Angel Tree program matches local families in need with people/organizations who want to provide personalized Christmas gifts and encouragement to these families in our community. Families helped in the previous year are invited to the Give Back event to wrap presents for the new families that will be helped the following season.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina: Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina strives through education, advocacy, and partnerships to eliminate hunger by the solicitation and distribution of food. They provide a regional distribution warehouse and branches that supply food and grocery items to charitable agencies that assist people in need, ultimately serving a total of 19 counties in North and South Carolina.

Community Blood Center: The Community Blood Center of the Carolinas is the primary blood supplier to the region’s patients and hospitals. CBCC collects blood from the community to return it to the community at the lowest possible cost, and consistent with the highest standards of quality. Earlier this year, Okuma participated in a blood drive where we donated 25 pints of blood, which in turn will save 75 lives in our local community.