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In recognition of Optio Solution’s long-standing commitment to community service, the California Association of Collectors (CAC) awarded the company its 2014 Outstanding Community Service Award.
From its headquarters in Petaluma, California, Optio has contributed to local, national, and international causes dedicated to helping people in need, and it has pursued many of these efforts ever since its founding in 2007.
Along with its parent company, CrossCheck, over the years Optio employees have camped out on various athletic fields to participate in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life Movement. They purchase “casual days” to contribute money and they put spare change into “penny jars” to collect more. They gather sponsors who pledge still more – all told in six years they have donated over $32,000. Employees walk laps for twenty-four hours on a track lined with hand-decorated, candle-lit bags honoring those whose lives have been impacted by cancer.
Every year the company sponsors a Salvation Army Angel Tree decorated with the names of about fifty local families who need help. Employees take the tags and bring back holiday gifts for the family. They also fill barrels from the local Redwood Empire Food Bank with canned and boxed food for distribution to families in need. And again this year employees donated about a hundred turkeys the company’s hometown Committee on the Shelterless, known as “COTS,” to make sure everyone in Petaluma has a Thanksgiving dinner.
Besides these sustained efforts Optio also steps up when things go wrong anywhere on the planet, most recently coming to the aid of hurricane and tsunami victims by donating the American Red Cross.
And the company brings resources to the table for celebrations as well. When Petaluma’s local Little League team made it to the playoffs in the 2012 Little League Baseball World Series, Optio helped make sure they received a hero’s welcome when they came home to be greeted by an impromptu parade and thousands of amazed parents and fans.
“This award belongs to our employees,” said Chris Schumacher, Optio’s President and CEO. “We’re proud to be facilitators, but it’s really our people who make the difference.”
Optio’s employees believe in their company and in their industry, Schumacher said, and set out not only to help others but also to improve and advance the industry’s public image.
And what better way to do that than with a viral video?
This year’s impromptu contribution took the form of the ALS Association’s Ice Bucket Challenge. Over a hundred employees from CrossCheck and Optio dumped ice water on their heads at the same time, gathering in front of corporate headquarters to challenge other local businesses to do the same. Overall they raised over $2,000 in the process of getting soaking wet:
Optio also demonstrates its commitment to customers and to the community by maintaining the standards of the ACA’s Professional Practices Management System. It meets or exceeds all Health Information Trust Alliance standards, as certified by TechLock and keeps two ACA Certified Credit and Collections Compliance Officers and a Corporate Compliance Attorney on staff. In 2013 audit and compliance experts I.S. Partners, LLC, completed an attestation report on the company’s controls that resulted in the issuance of SSAE 16 Type 1 report. And, of course, the company also has an accreditation from the Better Business Bureau.
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