Personal Impact of Volunteering

   “It’s very humbling, and it’s energizing,” says Keith Ogboenyiya, a first-time Texas Instruments volunteer at Trusted World. Volunteers drive Trusted World’s impact turning donations of clothing, food, and toiletries into $2.4 million of quality resources in 2022, helping nearly 30 thousand North Texans. 

   The Trusted World Volunteer Challenge empowers corporations and employees to demonstrate community commitment while challenging others to do the same.

   Texas Instruments tops the leaderboard six months into the Volunteer Challenge, taking a commanding lead with 409 volunteer hours. They are trailed by Triple-A Texas, with 253 volunteer hours, followed closely by State Farm, with 250 hours. 

   In the category of most volunteer visits, State Farm tops the leaderboard with seven, Triple-A Texas with four, TI in second with four volunteer visits, and Grant Thornton in 3rd.  

   TI employees stand out this month, not just for topping the leaderboard in hours but also by showing up in sheer numbers. As the defending 2022 Trusted World Challenge champions, Texas Instruments employees show up in force, usually by the busload. Last week TI’ers set a record with seventy-eight volunteers– the largest number at one time.

   Employees say sorting clothes and ensuring only the best quality items go to those in need in the community is rewarding and uplifting. Especially when realizing clothing items not making the cut are recycled, and the pennies on the pound received go towards purchasing new socks and underwear. 

   Ogboenyiya says, “It’s fantastic to see an environment so well structured, so well organized, but also very meticulous about quality.” TI volunteers love the methodology and logistics of the experience and say Trusted World’s mission of addressing local situational poverty resonates with them. Jennifer Barry says, “I kind of got emotional and teary-eyed thinking this would have been great for so many people I knew growing up. So this would be great to expand. In fact, it’s necessary for every community in America.” 

   TI Volunteer Arik Flanders says it’s great working for a company that cares about the community, “I’m 13 years at the company; ever since I’ve been there, we’ve spent a lot of time and energy giving back to local communities.” Barry agrees, saying, “What’s great is working for a company; we have lots of opportunities to volunteer. What’s also nice is no one forced us to be here; it kind of grew in the culture. We all want to be a part of it, so that also feels really good.” 

                                                                                                Trusted Trivia

   Here’s some Trusted Trivia; The Trusted World Network spans seven counties in North Texas and includes 436 Schools in 20 Independent School Districts; it has more than 300 nonprofits and 27 Law Enforcement entities. There are now 800+ Trusted World Network partners in North Texas, Plano Fire-Rescue, is one of the most recent and just one of three fire departments.

                                                                                          Network Partner Input

    Collaboration and communication are hallmarks of the Network. Here is some recent Network Partner input.  In an email, Life-Path Systems tells Trusted World Staff, “We have added multiple locations and believe that is going really smoothly right now. We appreciate the continual adjustments to help us be successful in getting this stuff out to the individuals in our services. We feel totally blessed to have this partnership. Thank you for all you do!” 

                                                                                                Make a Difference

   Here’s an example of how volunteers can make a difference beyond just sorting clothes. H-E-B employees arrived to volunteer to sort clothes, and, realizing the need for underwear in all sizes; they brought nine large boxes filled with hundreds of packs of new underwear. 

    If you’d like to help make a difference, you can go to   TrustedWorld.org and click on volunteer experiences and sign up. If you’d like to help make a difference another way, you can go to the same website, and under the ways to give link, you can click on Needs to find food and clothing items the Network needs. For clothing donations, one of our key sponsors, the Credit Union of Texas, has donation dropoff bins in every one of their North Texas branches. Next to the bin is a banner with a QR code if you want to donate money. You’ll find a complete list of dropoff bin locations on the Trusted World website. 

   That’s a look at some of the headlines from around the Trusted World Network, where you can join us in helping people help people.