| "Community service has been an important part of my life, and serving as Delegate is a continuation of that service."
Keith Hodges, who owns the Gloucester Pharmacy and completed his education at the University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University and the Medical College of Virginia, strives to find solutions to the complex challenges residents and business owners on the Middle Peninsula continue to face in rural coastal Virginia.
"My roots run deep on the Middle Peninsula" Hodges said. "I grew up here, as did my parents and grandparents. I spent my college summers working at the mill and enjoyed a childhood fishing, hunting and living the American dream in the heart of the 68th District."
Hodges believes in "community service, and have tried to live a life that reflects the gratitude and appreciation I have for the opportunities I've been given" he said. "Community service has been an important part of my life, and serving as Delegate is a continuation of that service."
Hodges' community service over the years has included serving on the Riverside Walter Reed Hospital Board, the BB&T Local Advisory Board, Relay for Life and the local area chambers of Commerce. Hodges is also a volunteer pharmacist at the Gloucester-Mathews Free Clinic and has coached parks and recreation and Little League T-ball teams.
As an elected leader in the region, Hodges orchestrated the region's first Economic Development Summit, a Rural Coastal Summit, initiated the formation of the Middle Peninsula Alliance as a regional group charged with the economic development of the entire district, created the Middle Peninsula Opioid Task Force and the Rural Coastal Economic Enhancement Authority.
His legislation has worked to bring more opportunities to the Middle Peninsula and other rural coastal Virginia localities that allow them to compete more equally with other more urban areas for economic development opportunities while also still protecting the natural resources that make the region so unique.
"We've made incredible strides" Hodges said. "In our region we have to mitigate the effect of water, the layers of government regulations that stand in between property owners and their ability to protect themselves, and then bring innovative solutions to address it."
In Richmond, Hodges serves on the Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee, General Laws Committee, Chairing the Rappahannock River Basin Commission, Co-Chairing the Joint Commission on Coastal Flooding, Chairing the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund Advisory Committee, serving as Vice-Chair for the Rural Caucus, and as the legislative member of the Advisory Board for the Middle Peninsula Alliance, the regional economic development authority.
Hodges and his wife Shelley have been married 30 years and have two daughters, Chloe, 20, and Ella, 16.
They attend Urbanna United Methodist Church. |