Other Options, Inc.

Other Options has saved my life. I'm now on my 31st year. They gave me 5 to 7 years to live. But here I am typing this message! Mary Arbuckle is simply amazing. I don't feel life has been fair to her for she has witnessed the deaths of so many. My husband Dale does not have HIV. One year he became very sick. He had a blood clot on his lung. The emergency room said had I not called 911 he would have been dead within minutes. Mary was there for him. She came to my home and crawled into bed with him. She made him feel safe. She brought a walker, shower seat, and food.

Mary Arbuckle is an amazing woman. She is just like her mother "Cookie".

I've read all of these reviews. Any bad reviews about Other Options or Mary Arbuckle is simply bullshit. I'm just saying.

Other Options, Inc Food Pantry is more than just a great places to volunteer. Mary Arbuckle, executive director and daughter of Cookie Arbuckle who was the founder of the organization, and her team of volunteers are some of the kindest and humble people I have ever met in my life. Mary and the team at Other Options run the organization with care and compassion for not only their clients but everyone they come in contact with. This non-profit organization is a true grassroots organization that offers compassion, love, and kindness to those they serve. They REALLY do care about each person who walks through their front doors. Mary delivers meals and love to each client...sometimes it is tough love but it is her love for the clients that bring out her maternal side.
Other Options provides meals for clients year-round. That includes home delivery to clients unable to get to the pantry to shop. They work with many other local nonprofit groups to help provide meals to their clients also.
One of my personal favorite volunteer opportunities is "Cookie's Thanksgiving." Meals are prepared and delivered to clients on Thanksgiving.

Other Options is a true charitable organization that provides much needed support for a severely underserved community. Unlike many other non-profits, gifts and donations go to those in need and most of the staffing is done by volunteers. I have witnessed first hand the joy brought to clients with thanksgiving meal and Christmas gift deliveries, personally know dozens helped by the food pantry and have partnered with multiple other service agencies and non-profits who have benefitted from the assistance provided by Mary Arbuckle and her army of volunteers. Thank you for all you do for this community!

Mary, Jim, Frank and everyone else who my partner and I have met at Other Options have always been professional, genuinely kind, thoughtful and nice. Just great people doing a great service! Thank you for everything you do! Best regards! Jeff & Scott, Duncan, OK.

This is a wonderful organization that fills such a need in our community. Mary Arbuckle is an excellent director who along with many volunteers who strive to put their clients needs first. I never have a second thought about donating to such a wonderful cause.

What can I say about Other Options but "Thank You". I have never seen or even heard of any other program like yours. In one word, "AMAZING!". Not only do you help out with the nutritional needs of so many people your volunteers are the best. While there I sat and watched how they listen to the clients, encourage them, give advise on not only cooking techniques and ideas, but they give SMILES. I watched many a person walk through the doors down, confused and/or scared. What your volunteers do is incredible! By the time the people leave you have energized them to keep going and to not give up or give in to the sickness. Please keep up the hard work and thank you for all that you do.

I'm writing in response to the awful mean and untrue Donna has said. I was one of the people (volunteers) that was there helping her bother out. for one point he was going to just leave the mower in the front yard, we moved and packed in the middle od the summer heat because he needed help, no other reason. I personally have lost my mate years ago, and I understand the pain of giving up your house and giving up your possessions just to survive. we used Other Options van, bought our gas and was more than honors to be of any help to a fellow man who was in grief and pain, we all wished him a good travel and sent our prayers and good thoughts with him,

I'm writing on behalf of my brother. Don't get me wrong, the food bank is great for people that need help. But Mary Arbuckle is another thing. She cheated my brother out of $275.00 dollars. On a riding lawn mower that we just got out of repair shop before she bought it. She was suppose to pay him $500.00 .Well she sent him $175.00 and she said she had to have a tune up and what ever else. like I said we just got it out of the repair shop and had everything done on it . It cost him $175.00 to have every thing done on it. So he got nothing on a year old Troy built riding lawn mower. My brother is blind and crippled and has to have help walking. He is HIV positive, He just lost his partner of 31 years that is why he had to sell every thing he had, What he didn't sell he donated to the food bank .He had to move with me to Idaho cause he is blind and disabled. Since Roy died he couldn't be there by his self. Mary was real ignorant to him. when he got here. Bryan has a big heart and she took advantage of him. Now none of his friends write or call him because of her. Thanks for listening. Donna

Mary Arbuckle is an awesome giving cowgirl who knows that people need food and services more than a sermon. She knows that for service providers it is better to listen than preach. I've seen her do extraordinary things in terms of fundraising. Even people just passing through Oklahoma have benefited from her kindness. Other Options space is warm and inviting and people leave feeling good about themselves as opposed to some food pantries where one has to listen to some judgement as the price for accepting food. It is so much better to leave a food pantry feeling empowered because that promotes wellness and can be the jumpstart to improving one's life. As a horseperson, Mary Arbuckle has translated the ethic to human beings in that everybody deserves to be warm, dry and fed, especially in the Winter.

I am amazed at the work that Other Options, Inc. provides for those living with HIV/AIDS. The volunteers are friendly and they make the clients feel at home. Other Options has gone out of their way to make the clients feel welcomed and that the have a safe haven.

I have been a board member for over two years now and am continually amazed at what this organization can generate in terms of benefits for the people who need them, and in the role of getting the community excited about helping. Cookie and Mary Arbuckle are pioneers for helping in this local community. My first experience with them, before becoming a board member was when I showed up to volunteer during 'Day without a Gay', an annual event to bring awareness to the fight for marriage equality. I decided to help that day, instead of hanging out at a bar drinking with the other gays. We arrived at Other Options Inc/Friends Food Pantry and were asked to help move and clear out stock items, as well as sort through donations for Christmas baskets. We finished early, and Mary Arbuckle called and found another charity in town that we could go and assist at. It was such a great experience that when I was asked to join the board I immediately knew it was an organization I wanted to be a part of. I'm very proud of what this organization's role is in the community, and to be part of it gives me far more than the help we are able to supply for those in need. This organization generates more than food, medications, clothing, gifts...it generates love and friendships within the community. And no matter how much money we have produced to fund feeding those in need we will always be very rich in life.

I've been involved with Other Options Inc/Friends Food Pantry (OOI/FFP) over the past 4 yrs after retiring after 20 yrs from the USAF/military. With more free time in the evenings and weekends, I have been enlightened working with the many volunteers and board members of this organization and seeing the fruits of our labor in the grateful eyes & smiles of the clients as they shop at the food pantry on Sat/Mon or when we deliver the food on Mondays as well as during the Thanksgiving meal deliveries as well as when they pick up their Christmas toiletry & gift baskets. It's truly a blessing getting to witness the board members and volunteers within the community get together as a team and work the fundraising events just to see us be able to support OOI/FFP serve its mission. Getting to know and work with Cookie Arbuckle, who had the passion, heart and wherewithall to start this great organization in helping the clients, was truly an honor -- I hope to be able to help continue her legacy for many more years.

I have been involved with this agency as an employee for about a year and a half. I love it here! The works that are performed here everyday are like nowhere else. Other Options, Inc. has multiple programs to aid people living with (or affected by) HIV/AIDS. The biggest one being Friends Food Pantry - the only food pantry in the 405 and 580 area code specifically serving positive Oklahomans. This is a beautiful thing and if you really want to do something good for the community you should come in and volunteer sometime. We can always use the help. Especially now, during the holidays. We do a Thanksgiving dinner delivery and we make gift and toiletry baskets for Christmas. We are small but with the help of volunteers we are mighty.

At Other Option, I felt as welcome as the clients. The staff and other volunteers helped me to find opportunities to be useful and fulfilled in every task I was given. I really appreciated that I could work alone stocking shelves or working along side other volunteers on special projects or directly with clients. The flexibility suited me perfectly. Volunteers, staff and clients all made me if they were my second family.

I have been affiliated with Other Options for more than 20 years as an advocate, supporter and volunteer. In the last two years I have become more involved and now serve on the board. I can't tell you how much gratitude I feel by helping in the small part that I do. This organization helps so many people with their food pantry and so many other services they provide, primarily for HIV & AIDS patients. Many people discriminate against these groups, but what people don't realize is that there are children and families that we help on a daily basis. Many people and families are affected by this disease. People tend to judge and they shouldn't.

I have volunteered at Other Options for over three years. It is a wonderful organization that provides so much to our community. I am proud to be part of such a wonderful group.

I started at Other Options as a volunteer one year ago this month. As soon as I began I was immediately impressed with not only the services they provide but how the clients are treated as well. Mary Arbuckle (the director) knows everyone by name and knows their entire back story. I quickly joined the advisory committee and recently joined the board. I really do feel that we have a great group of people working together to try and help as many people in need as we possibly can. I was told when I first started that when you're volunteering, if you're not having fun you shouldn't do it. We manage to have a lot of fun and great interaction w/the clients while getting a lot of important work done.