Community Champions Contest
Our ACA Connects Members are an important part of their communities. In addition to delivering reliable and affordable video and broadband services, they often lead initiatives that provide a helping hand to their neighbors and friends.
ACA Connects is Pleased to Announce Vexus Fiber as the Winner of the 2022 Community Champions Award!
From volunteering at food banks, to organizing clothing drives, to donating school supplies to local children, our Members and their employees are engaged and committed to the well-being of their customers in the areas where they live and work.
To honor that spirit of giving back, we are pleased to announce a contest for 2022. We are taking nominations for community service projects hosted by our ACA Connects Operator Members.
Members are encouraged to nominate their company’s community service projects for this honor by completing the form on our website (see below). Nominations will be taken through August and will be included in one of the first three issues of Independent Communications News (March, July and September), depending on the date of submission. All nominated projects will be listed on the Community Champions pages of the website for viewing. Beginning in September 2022, visitors to the Community Champions page can vote for a winner of the 2022 award. The winning project will receive a $2,500 donation from ACA Connects to continue their projects.
At ACA Connects, we are proud to represent such a wonderful group of companies who see the value of investing in their communities and lifting up their neighbors. We’re excited to see the innovative and unique projects our members have developed in an effort to give back!
Questions regarding Community Champions?
Please contact Stacey Leech at [email protected].
Armstrong
Breaking Bread
Armstrong launched their Breaking Bread initiative to help feed the hungry in the communities Armstrong provides service on March 8, 2010. Armstrong customers and employees can drop off donations at local Armstrong locations.
In 2021, Armstrong customers and employees donated 42,292 pounds of food plus $26,838.33 in monetary donations and nearly 200 volunteer hours. These resources were routed to over 200 community feeding programs to help supply food to families who are experiencing food insecurity.
Hunger is a problem in all the communities that Armstrong serves and the Breaking Bread initiative strives to help more than simply donating food. Armstrong is committed to fighting hunger through a four-pronged approach: Collecting donations of food, volunteering time, donating money and raising awareness. Armstrong has donated thousands of branded commercials to promote this need in our communities, as well as via social media, email, and the Armstrong Neighborhood Channel.
In 2018, Armstrong added Avenge Hunger Month during September to help in its awareness efforts for local food programs. Over the past four years, Armstrong has helped to collect more than 160,000 pounds of food and nearly $75,000 in monetary donations to help support local feeding programs through Avenge Hunger Month events.
Armstrong is proud to be active in the communities throughout the six states we serve, making Breaking Bread one of Armstrong’s most important community services.
Breezeline
Voices for Understanding
Breezeline, the nation’s eighth-largest cable operator launched its “Voices for Understanding” campaign designed to highlight issues of diversity, inclusion, peace and justice. At a time of sharp political divides and heated rhetoric, the campaign is designed to promote unity and understanding.
The campaign featured 30-second Public Service Announcements (PSAs) highlighting non-profit organizations devoted to racial justice (Martin Luther King Center, The Society for the Study of African American Life and History, 100 Black Men of America), peace (The Search for Common Ground), environmental justice (Earthwatch), and diversity and inclusion (International Women’s Day, “Love Has No Labels,” “Fight Virus Bias” and “Belonging Begins with Us,” from the Ad Council). Two spots, “Love Transforms” and “Equality for All,” were sponsored by Breezeline.
The twelve (12) spots aired at no cost on more than two dozen cable networks (including ESPN, CNN, Lifetime, A&E, Home & Garden) in the 12 states where Breezeline provides services: Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina and Florida. Breezeline provided production services for sports for several of the non-profits featured in the campaign and the airtime value of the spots has exceeded $4 million since the campaign began in September 2020. Spots can be viewed in the video below.
CASSCOMM
Feeding CASS County with the Cass County Food Pantry
Every month the Cass County food pantry works hard to provide meals for low-income families in Cass County located in Virginia, IL. Every month, CASSCOMM employees help unload the trucks when needed and stock the shelves. CASSCOMM will also have themes to help provide donations to the pantry such as casual Fridays and help them put together fundraisers for the pantry.
Delhi Telephone Company
DTC's Community Spotlight Program
DTC‘s Community Spotlight program is designed to help our communities and businesses thrive. Our main goal of the program is to provide local businesses with a platform to showcase their products and services while engaging our community members. We connect our area residents with businesses by providing information on the products and services available in our own backyard. A key foundation to our small rural community is support local, shop local. Our Community Spotlight program proudly responds to community need, as well as supports our local economy. Small, locally-owned businesses make up a large majority of our economy and business districts throughout Delaware County. By providing these businesses with free advertising, we are encouraging them to spread the word about their products and services. We provide them the opportunity to gain new and keep returning customers coming through their door. Delhi Telephone Company has always been a proud supporter of our community, local businesses, and charities. We were founded on the idea that in order to succeed we must come together and support one another. We strongly support and believe shopping local is the foundation of our economy and is key for our community to thrive.
LUS Fiber
LUS Rural Broadband Infrastructure Program
This project builds infrastructure to unserved rural homes in adjacent unserved census blocks with the project completed within a year.
With is partners, LUS Fiber secured a $21 million grant from NTIA’s Broadband Infrastructure Program for deploying over one million feet of fiber to the rural communities of Ville Platte, Church Point, Eunice, Mamou & Basile, providing internet, video and phone services for residences and businesses. The new build will include service to 3,700 businesses, 19 schools, 12 fire stations, 9 police stations, 4 hospitals and 2 local government buildings.
Mediacom
Teacher Appreciation Reception
One of the most purposeful occasions that Mediacom has had the privilege of supporting for almost three decades is the Teacher Appreciation Reception. It is held annually in conjunction with the Jacksonville, Illinois Chamber of Commerce and an abundance of local businesses. Teachers come from the entire surrounding areas to enjoy an evening of great food, refreshments, camaraderie, and the awarding of many, many prizes. Local businesses set up booths and make sure that every teacher gets things to take home with them. In addition, games and activities give individuals chances to win bigger and more expensive prizes for themselves and their schools. In past years, Mediacom has given big screen television sets to deserving schools in the area as well as many, many programmer based giveaways at our booth. Our booth is the one that the teachers run to every year. The main purpose remains the recognition of the teachers and their contributions to the future of our community.
Service Electric Cable TV & Communications
Kids and Canines 2022
Through our “Kids and Canines” program, Service Electric donated money, services, time, equipment and other goods to a variety of organizations that help children and animals in need. Within the last year, our team helped raise more than $500,000 for several charities and nonprofit organizations in our service area through a variety of projects including…
The John E. Walson, Jr. Memorial Golf & Pickleball Tournament:
Service Electric helped to raise more than $365,000 to support Valley Youth House programs serving vulnerable youth and families in our community. The tournament is named in memory of Service Electric’s past president.
Valley Youth House Camp Fowler Project:
The Service Electric team donated and installed equipment to bring Internet service to new cabins at this youth camp via point-to-multipoint wireless connections on a 43 acre campus.
John E. Walson, Jr. Golf for Kids’ Sake:
Company fundraising brought $18,000 to this tournament, which helped to build the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Lehigh Valley’s mentoring program and to create the STEAM lab at the Youth Mentoring Center.
USGA Senior Open ‘Charity Drive’:
Service Electric arranged for 30 children from Valley Youth House, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and The First Tee to attend the 42nd Senior Open and work one-on-one with pros to learn the game of golf.
Bowl for Kids’ Sake:
Service Electric sponsored and televised this event, which is the BBBSLV’s largest fundraiser with a goal of helping to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.
Diakon Adoption and Foster Care:
Children in this program received gifts and travel bags from the staff at Service Electric, who donated more than 100 gifts based on ‘wish lists’ from 50 foster children.
The Center for Animal Health & Welfare:
For the fourth year in a row, the employees of Service Electric gathered and delivered thousands of dollars in pet supplies and monetary donations for this life-saving pet adoption shelter.
Sparklight
Gulf Coast Soles for Souls
In 2019, a Sparklight Warehouse Technician in Long Beach, Mississippi, made a personal donation to provide shoes to students in need at his daughter’s school. This effort ultimately led to a friendly competition between Sparklight’s Long Beach, Biloxi and Pascagoula systems which resulted in a $5,000 donation to Gulf Coast Soles for Souls – enough to provide 125 pairs of shoes. After a hiatus due to COVID, Sparklight’s Mississippi Gulf Coast systems are again gearing up to raise funds to provide shoes for those in need. The effort will run through the summer of 2022, allowing the donation to be made in time for students to receive new shoes for the start of the school year. To engage the local associates, the system that raises the most money (on average based on the number of associates) will receive lunch – provided, prepared and served by the General Manager of the losing systems. The goal, in addition to providing adequate footwear, is to give the recipients confidence that will allow them to be successful as they head into the new school year.
Vexus
Helping to Build Better Communities
One of Vexus Fiber’s core pillars is we are community builders! Vexus is a local, reliable company that helps to strengthen engagement and grows communities. We believe we must invest in the communities where we live, work, and play so we all can succeed. Vexus employees have chosen to volunteer their time and resources to help collect food and clothing, raise funds, and advocate for local nonprofits in the Abilene community that focus on the most vulnerable and those often overlooked and who need shelter. One of our most meaningful partnerships is with The Salvation Army of Abilene. Without hesitation, Vexus employees have rung bells, provided boxed holiday meals, donated clothes, given financial contributions, and helped supply toys for the Angel Tree. They have done this to ensure our neighbors are clothed, have something to eat, have shelter, and children can experience the wonders of Christmas, no matter their home or financial situation. This year alone Vexus was able to raise money to feed over 30 small families in the Abilene community and helped provide over 60 nights of shelter for the homeless. We also provided eight larger families with boxed holiday meals. We love where we live!
WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone
Keris Kares Royal Run
Since 2018, WOW! has partnered with Keris Kares, a Newnan, Georgia charity dedicated to the fight against pediatric brain cancer. Keris Kares provides supplementary financial assistance to families in need after a pediatric cancer diagnosis. Their Family Emergency Fund covers non-medical costs such as rent and mortgage payments, utility bills, car loans, and car insurance payments. Every year, WOW! supports the Keris Kares Royal Run which encourages community support and raises funds for families affected by pediatric cancer.
This year, WOW! was out in full force as the presenting sponsor for the 2022 Royal Run. Named for a WOW! small business customer’s young daughter who bravely battled cancer, the Keris Kares Royal Run “Superhero Edition” was a family celebration, featuring games, a petting zoo, face painting, and food trucks in addition to 5K and one-mile races.
WOW! promoted the event with on-air commercials, helping raise awareness and drive a successful turnout with more than 400 runners participating. Additionally, WOW! field sales executives Elston Montford and Corey Lackey handed out water to runners during the race. Over the last five years 75 WOW! team members have participated and WOW! has contributed over $35,000 to the Royal Run, helping fight childhood brain cancer alongside Newnan community members.
