State Farm Agents Help Bring WiFi To Fredericksburg Neighborhood

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — Five State Farm agents from the Fredericksburg area are donating a total of $1,900 to the Mayfield Civic Association to help provide Internet service to students living in the area. The association plans to use the funds to boost its signal so residents in the neighborhood can access it for remote learning.

Many households in the Mayfield community, an area adjacent to Dixon Park, do not have the ability to pay for Internet service in their homes, creating challenges for students when Virginia's schools shut down in March for in-person learning.

“We don’t want students to be left behind due to lack of access. We want to enable the students to keep up with their instruction no matter what the school format turns out to be,” Trudy Smith, president of the Mayfield Civic Association, said Friday in a statement.

Xavier Richardson, a Fredericksburg native and senior vice president and chief development officer of the Mary Washington Hospital Foundation, has been collaborating with Smith. He worked with State Farm agents Jarrett Bailey, Gary Boxley, Bryan Carroll, Buster Nelson and Michael C Smith to secure the donation.

“As local business owners, we want to give back to the neighborhoods where we live and work. Through this donation we want to ensure no child gets left behind in a virtual learning environment,” Boxley, a Mayfield native, said in a statement. “A lot of children in this community do not have access to WiFi and would greatly benefit from a public WiFi hotspot. We want to help life go right for these young and at risk students.”

The Mayfield Civic Association welcomes donations and is located at Mayfield Civic Association, 311 Glover St. Fredericksburg, VA 22401. Residents who would like to donate or have questions can contact Trudy Smith at 540-361-4913.