2015 Economic Impact Awards Philanthropic Business of the Year: Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co.

After 95 years in business and countless product additions, the Rice family’s servant approach to community involvement is much the same as it’s always been.  

Sally Hargis, Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co.’s vice president of corporate strategy and daughter of CEO and Chairman Edwin “Cookie” Rice, says the company’s corporate giving centers on events and efforts that connect people.

“Our business is naturally aligned with the community because everywhere our products are served are places where families gather,” Hargis says.

In 2014, the company donated more than $424,000 in scholarships and cash to local organizations as well as over 3,500 cases of product.

Recipients include Springfield-Greene County Park Board, Dickerson Park Zoo, Lake Country Youth Soccer, Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks, CoxHealth, Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Springfield Family Y and United Way of the Ozarks.

Product donations range from filling care packages for deployed military employees to supporting events such as Relay For Life, the Care to Learn Run and American Heart Association Heart Walk.

“A lot of times it will just be a walk or a run and they’ll just need water or Powerade to help rehydrate the people who are participating,” Hargis says. “If we can do that, that’s a great way for us to partner with an organization.”

Some efforts represent long-term commitments. The bottling company has sponsored Springfield’s Artsfest for over 30 years, Hargis says.

“Our products there are sold during those two days of Artsfest, and the proceeds help the future of the Arts Council in Springfield,” she says.

Chairman Rice says its donations are a reflection of both the family’s desire to give back and Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper’s culture.

“It’s just part of the way we live, and I’m not trying to sound boastful,” Rice says. “My father taught us that giving and helping was the right thing to do.”

The family, he says, always has tried to get involved with groups serving the community.

Edwin Rice Sr. was a founding member of the Better Business Bureau of Southwest Missouri and served as the first chairman of the City Utilities board.

“I later served on (CU’s) board,” Cookie Rice says, adding he’s served for many years of the art museum’s board.

“If Sally told you all the things she has been chairman of or involved in, it would last half an hour.”

Employees also are routinely active in events such as the United Way Day of Caring.

“We were thrilled to have people take time away from their work and be a part of that work,” Hargis says, noting philanthropy, like business, is based on establishing and, quite often, extending relationships.

“We’re participating with the community based on relationships. And those are personal relationships,” she says.

“We are in those organizations in a beverage partnership sometimes. Or we may not have a beverage partnership, but we are serving on a board or participating in a fundraiser.”

Rice sums up the giving efforts: “This is our home, too. We’ve been here since 1920,” he says.