We Do More Than Make Pickles
At Mt. Olive, we obviously know how to make great pickles.
But we also work very hard to make a great Mount Olive. In fact, we take our community involvement quite seriously. Each year we contribute several hundred thousand dollars in cash and product donations. But we also offer the energy, enthusiasm and commitment of our people to make our community stronger.
Mt. Olive, the company, and Mount Olive, the community, are closely intertwined. Our roots are in the efforts of local businessmen to accommodate a bumper crop of cucumbers back in the 1920s. Today, the company is by far the largest employer within the Town of Mount Olive, a small, Eastern North Carolina town with a population of 4,500. The community and the company come together each year in April to celebrate, through the N.C. Pickle Festival, a unique and truly dill-lightful relationship.
It is a relationship we foster. We partner with our local schools, we sponsor youth recreation teams, and we support the fundraising efforts of local civic organizations. We contribute to national charities at work in our community. We support United Way of Wayne County, and through it, the agencies that provide services to residents here.
We also support the University of Mount Olive.
A private, liberal arts college that serves traditional and non-traditional students in over 30 degree programs, through substantial financial contributions each year. Behind the university, our single largest beneficiary is the company’s Employee Community Fund.
Established in 1959, the Employee Community Fund is managed by our employees, who determine distribution each year. Employee contributions are voluntary, but most Mt. Olive employees opt to have 30 cents of every hundred dollars of their wages directed to this fund. The company then matches employee contributions annually. This fund supports the Boys and Girls Club of Mount Olive, United Way of Wayne County, dozens of local volunteer fire and rescue departments, and national charities.
In addition, in 1994 the company launched the Mt. Olive Pickle Company Foundation.
Over the years, the foundation, among other contributions, enabled Friends of Steele Memorial Library to improve its offerings for library patrons in Mount Olive, helped bring the N.C. Symphony to Wayne County, and supported the efforts of the Mount Olive Area Historical Society and Mount Olive’s Habitat for Humanity.
We are generous, too, with our pickles. We routinely donate our products and picklephernalia items for church and civic auctions, fundraisers and events. In fact, our local Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce president customarily offers guest speakers “payment in pickles” – our gift packs – when they visit Mount Olive. We are a major contributor to the Food Bank of North Carolina, supplying product for distribution to soup kitchens and meal programs around the state.
Financial and product contributions are important, but we also offer the commitment of our employees, who volunteer for community, educational, church and civic organizations. That’s everything from the Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce to the Rotary, Lions, Exchange, and Shrine clubs. An example: our employees over the years have raised thousands of dollars for the American Heart Association by participating in the annual Heart Walk here.
We also have a national partnership with Make-A-Wish® Foundation.
Mt. Olive Pickle Company announced a partnership with Make-A-Wish® Foundation in 2020. We are honored to continue helping Make-A-Wish® fulfill its mission of creating life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. We chose to support Make-A-Wish® because through its wish-granting, children are given a sense of anticipation for something positive and empowering in their lives.
These special moments of joy make a real difference. In fact, a wish is an integral part of a child’s treatment journey. Research shows children who have wishes granted can build the physical and emotional strength they need to fight a serious illness. It’s an experience that can help them live with, or even overcome, their illnesses. Together, Make-A-Wish® and Mt. Olive Pickle Company are on a quest to bring every eligible child’s wish to life.
The support of our loyal consumers directly impacts making dreams come true for children through the Make-A-Wish® Foundation. Consumer purchases help us spread joy to children and transform lives, one wish at a time. We believe every child battling a critical illness should experience the hope and delight of a wish fulfilled, an experience designed to bring a smile and sweet memories.
If you would like to donate directly to Make-A-Wish® Foundation, please click here.
Mt. Olive Pickle announces its role as the official pickle and pickle juice provider for the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA), in a national sponsorship that supports the NWBA all the way to Paris this summer.
The NWBA is the longest standing and largest Disabled Sports Organization in the world. It was founded in 1949 to provide individuals with physical disabilities the opportunity to play and learn wheelchair basketball.
“Mt. Olive is so proud to be a national sponsor of the NWBA, and we look forward to cheering on these incredible athletes in the Paralympics in the coming weeks,” said Mt. Olive Pickles Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing Greg Smith.
The National Wheelchair Basketball Association is the recognized National Governing Body for Wheelchair Basketball by the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. The NWBA trains and selects teams for participation in the Paralympic Games, World Championships, and other international competitions.
The U.S Men’s and Women’s National Teams are set to compete in the upcoming Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, scheduled for August 28 – September 8.
The list is truly endless, but only because we see community involvement as a vital part of what we do, day in and day out.
... And you thought all we did was make great pickles.
