Ben Lomand Connect completed its annual holiday food drive for food pantries in Warren, White, Coffee, Grundy, Van Buren and Cumberland counties with great success. One thousand three hundred and seventy-nine items were collected, and Ben Lomand Connect donated over $680 to purchase more. In November, Ben Lomand offices began collecting food donations throughout its service territory and at Citizens Tri-County Bank in Van Buren County. Along with the food items, Ben Lomand Connect matched with a monetary donation of 50 cents per item. 

Greg Smartt, Ben Lomand Connect CEO, stated, “We are humbled and honored to play a small part in helping individuals and families that are struggling this Christmas and New Year season. Our employees and the customers we serve consistently respond to this canned food drive and other needs in our communities throughout the year. The unbelievable work that volunteers do at each of the local food pantries in our area goes mostly unnoticed throughout the year. Our hope is that our canned food drive items and monetary donations will help shine a light on these individuals and places. It is a blessing for this company to be one of the caretakers of this special part of the world we call home.” 

Over the three-year span of the annual food drive, BLC has collected close to 5,500 food items and contributed more than $2,700 to area food pantries. Ben Lomand Connect would like to thank Citizens Tri-County Bank for allowing collections at their Spencer location. Their efforts are appreciated, and their employees generously contributed as well. Ben Lomand Connect began serving customers on Oct. 1, 1954, to provide local telephone service to rural Middle Tennessee. The cooperative has grown to over 22,000 phone lines and over 28,000 broadband connections to residential and business customers. Over the last three decades, Ben Lomand Connect has laid over 4,200 miles of fiber throughout the area.