Among the many Cox employees who teamed up to help the community during and following the devastating fires in San Diego were (back row, left to right): Ben Lindall, Beverly Elane, John Hickman, Paul Templeton, Dave Wray, Robert Downing; (front row, left to right): Mike Neal, Bill Geppert.

Ginny Bloxom, with oar in hand, exemplifies the “We can handle it” reaction of Cox employees to a crisis.

In the Company of Leaders

You Can Weather A Storm

During 2003, Cox’s employees again proved they will do whatever it takes to keep customers and the community connected in a crisis.

In October, the worst California wildfires in a century hit San Diego. Nearly 400,000 acres burned, 2,300 homes were destroyed and 16 people lost their lives. Cox employees pulled together immediately, despite having offices literally in the line of fire. Field technicians worked around the clock in dangerous conditions. Employees volunteered time filling sandbags, donating blood, collecting clothing and even helping put out fires. They created the Cox San Diego Fire Assistance Team to help fire victims. And they restored services to nearly all customers in four days.

Also in 2003, Hurricane Isabel pummeled Cox markets in Virginia and North Carolina. With winds of 155 mph, the storm caused $1 billion of damage, 31 deaths and power outages affecting 1.8 million homes. Our Hampton Roads system suffered the single largest natural disaster ever to hit a Cox property. But in the aftermath, Cox’s Hampton Roads employees, joined by nearly 80 technicians from eight other Cox systems, were devoted to serving customers and keeping the operation running. For instance, Service Center Rep Ginny Bloxom repeatedly rowed a boat across a flooded creek and waded knee-deep in mud just to get to work so that she could assist Cox customers.

Ginny’s mettle exemplifies the typical reaction of Cox employees to a crisis: We can handle it. Just ask the Oklahoma City employees who worked diligently to restore service after recent tornadoes, or the Middle America Cox team that quickly mobilized to aid government and relief organizations following the explosion of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Nationwide, Cox operations maintain a constant vigilance, always ready to help customers and communities triumph over adversity.