CHANDLER, Ariz., Aug. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OnTrac, a logistics company in the Western United States, makes a companywide effort to give back to the communities where employees live and work. One way OnTrac is Delivering Hope on the local level within their eight-state service region is through their companywide backpack drive. For the third year, OnTrac has donated 1,000 backpacks filled with school supplies to students in need throughout California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Colorado and Idaho. In return, the students fill out a “get to know you” postcard in order for OnTrac to learn about these future leaders. Some of the questions on the postcard included what grade they are in and what their favorite school subject is. The Kids In Need Foundation at kinf.org states that there are “16 million kids who come from families struggling with extreme poverty.” Based on recent studies, the children who have new school supplies have shown improvement in grades, classroom behavior, engagement, self-esteem and attitude towards learning. Upon receiving these backpacks, OnTrac is assured that these students are ready to learn.

“Including a postcard for the students to fill out allows us to feel a sense of connection since we aren’t able to meet the students in person in most cases. We love the response that we get from the community and hope that the community feels a connection with OnTrac as well,” says OnTrac Backpack Drive Program Manager Sarahmarie Abernethy.

During the 2018 fiscal year, OnTrac has Delivered Hope to a variety of non-profit organizations supporting causes that employees and customers are passionate about, such as the United Ostomy Association of America, the Arizona Humane Society, and Habitat for Humanity among others. In addition, employees gave back to disaster relief programs to help the victims impacted by Hurricane Harvey and the California wildfires through the Red Cross and Salvation Army. Approximately $28,000 was donated to a variety of give back programs during the 2018 fiscal year by OnTrac Delivering Hope and over $100,000 since 2014.

“Working for a company that allows my co-workers and I to spend company time giving back to a community that was devastated by the California wildfires last year definitely proves that as a group we are in this together,” says OnTrac Integration Compliance Manager Josette Chiaramonte.

Some of the programs that received support are as follows:

• American Cancer Society
• Arizona Humane Society
• Boys and Girls Club
• Carminati Elementary School
• Carter Lake Elementary School
• Chandler School District
• Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)
• Fans Across America
• Habitat for Humanity
• Highline School District
• Kenilworth Junior High
• Make-A-Wish
• Mary Buren Elementary
• Mountain View Elementary School
• National Retail Federation
• Ralph Reeder Center
• Red Cross Disaster Relief
• Salvation Army
• Santa Ana School District
• South San Francisco Unified School District
• St. Vincent de Paul
• Taft Elementary
• Tempe School District
• Tuscano Elementary
• Tyrann Mathieu Foundation
• United Ostomy Associations of America, Inc.
• Women's & Children's Alliance

To learn more about OnTrac’s charitable giving, please visit their website, ontrac.com/compprofilecommunity.asp.

About OnTrac

OnTrac specializes in logistics services throughout the eight western area states, an area that is home to over 65 million consumers. OnTrac was founded in 1991, and has grown to become a top choice for e-commerce and companies looking to speed up parcel distribution without the additional costs associated with national carriers. In 2014, OnTrac launched DirectPost, and became the first logistics company to offer a USPS Package Consolidation Service. OnTrac is a SmartWay Transport Partner, a USPS Workshare Partner, and is integrated with over thirty different multi-carrier software providers. The OnTrac Logistics Network is comprised of three divisions based on service offerings; overnight, messenger, and international. For more information on overnight services, call 800.334.5000 or visit ontrac.com. For more information on messenger services, call 888.334.5001 or visit ontracmessenger.com. For more information on international services, call 800.628.4868 or visit ontracinternational.com.