In the Spring of 2022, Jillian Perry, our Field Operations Supervisor in Springfield, was speaking with a technician about an idea she had for a food drive to support local food banks in Northern Virginia. Suddenly, from down the hall, she heard a familiar voice say, “Jillian, I don’t know what it is but I’m in.” That voice belonged to Cox field services employee Ron, who in turn became the “first volunteer” for this now-annual food drive. Ron was known for always stepping up without questioning the purpose or cause – he was always “in.”

Sadly, we did not get to enjoy having Ron support our inaugural food drive. We tragically lost our friend and colleague on September 19, 2022.

It is in his honor that Jillian and her fellow Cox employees recently hosted the 2^nd Annual Brother Ron Food Drive. Our employees all stepped up to embody Ron’s legacy of being 110 percent committed to his work family and community by participating in this now-annual event that does so much to support our friends and neighbors in need.

All donations collected within each market went to support food banks within the volunteers’ communities. Additionally, Amazon Wish Lists were created for each market along with QR codes to enable easy sharing of food requests from local food banks so employees near and far could purchase and donate items that each food bank requested. These food banks included:

• Food For Others (NOVA)
• Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank (NOVA- Fredericksburg)
• Virginia Peninsula Food Bank (HRD- Penn)
• Foodbank Southeastern (HRD- SS)
• Southwestern Food Bank (ROA)

In total, we collected the following statewide totals of donated food items:

• NOVA: 2,962 lbs.
• Herndon: 1,127 lbs.
• Roanoke: 300 lbs.
• Statewide: 4,389 lbs.