January 05, 2015
As an Associate Manager in the Customer Service Department at Otter Products, Katie is a wonderful leader and an enthusiastic champion for OtterCares. She volunteers regularly herself and also works hard to encourage her peers to get involved too. Read more below about how and why Katie gets involved with OtterCares!
Why did you become an OtterCares Ambassador? Long before I worked for Otter Products, I was assisting a teacher who had gotten a grant for iPads to use with his preschool kids – all of whom were somewhere on the Autism spectrum. He needed cases – I couldn’t sell him one I trusted! So, I emailed a contact at OtterBox, and they sent him cases for all his iPads as a donation. I got the bug then. 2 years later, when I became an Otter – I knew as soon as I heard about OtterCares, that I wanted to be a part of making great things happen in our community.
Why do you volunteer? I volunteer because I have this huge heart and such a small area of influence in the world. I want to set an example for my peers, my team and my daughter. The pieces of myself that I have gained through volunteering are invaluable. All of those are personal reasons – but the impact I can make, the lives altered, – that’s also why I volunteer, for the beneficiaries.
Describe a volunteer activity with OtterCares that has impacted you significantly: In 2013, there was a challenge set forth by OtterCares – The Dare to Care project. We were able, as a department, to choose a nonprofit and create events to engage both the public and Otter Products communities in supporting that nonprofit. My team adopted an organization, A Precious Child, in Broomfield that is solely dedicated to outfitting kids with clothes, backpacks, and sports equipment. I learned a lot about others during that project – and myself even more so. The relationship that was created with that nonprofit during that time is lasting – I was asked to be an Advisory Board Member for A Precious Child and I am now involved regularly with the organization.
Describe your favorite volunteer activity: Junior Achievement is a program that goes to different elementary schools and provides volunteers to teach classes focused on work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills. This year, I taught 5 classes to a classroom of kindergartners. It was quite a touching experience and honestly, it was the most fulfilling, personal fun I have had this year with OtterCares.
Why do you think the OtterCares purpose is important? Sure, I could tell you it’s about the lives we impact with the work we do. That is 100% true. We change people through our volunteering. However, the people I genuinely believe are the most changed are us. The Otters, the ones given the opportunity to give back. That internal ripple effect is wide, and continues to spread long after they have completed their day volunteering.