You don’t have to dive very deep into the Optionelle culture to discover that giving back is in the company’s soul. It is cemented in the company’s mission statement, values, vision and is part of its daily operations. If you’ve ever been to the Optionelle Head Office, you will quickly notice the bulletin board just off the lobby filled with children’s photos. Like many corporations today, we have chosen to support children in a third world country. Unlike other corporations, we have chosen to get involved on a more personal level.Set up through the charitable organization “Compassion”  employees have agreed to each write and support a child from the village of Likamba, in north east Tanzania. This project has had such an impact at head office that we have encouraged each of our independent consultants to do the same – pick up a pen and paper and offer support to a child who otherwise has a bleak future. At last count, we were making a difference in the lives of 63 children in this village, and the numbers are growing. The President of Optionelle – Gloria Dona - recently had the opportunity to visit Likamba. She witnessed first hand the difference our sponsorship has made in the lives of these children and their families. In fact, she toured the community kitchen that was built by the funds raised by a casino night Optionelle hosted. Thanks to you, last season we were able to purchased 244 goats for the families of Likamba through our Fashion for Famine campaign. This season, we are striving to raise money to implement a malaria intervention program for the people in our village. By purchasing our Chocolate Tailored Shirt, you are helping us to reach our goal. We would love to have you join us by sponsoring a child in our village.

Simply go to www.compassion.ca.
Click 'Choose a child for me' When the pop-up box appears click 'next'
Fill in your contact information and in the comments section at the bottom say ''I would like a child from the Optionelle's project in Tanzania''

It doesn’t stop there. We invite our hostesses to donate their hostess rewards to a chosen local charity. We also donate hundreds of garments each year to Women’s shelters across Canada. Employees who volunteer at any charity for a day are paid their regular wages. Shopping fundraisers are set up where a percentage of the sales are donated to a charity….just to name a few! Although the cheque is a big part of becoming involved with a charity, it’s only a fraction of what makes a difference in someone’s life. By making it part of our culture, it becomes real. Employees, consultants, hostesses and even customers are aware of our priority of giving back. You can’t put a price on that.