Erik Jones has always wanted to stay current with information, so he found himself nose deep in books. He grew up having dogs and rabbits as pets. He’s also had cancer personally affect his life, losing his father in 2016 and supporting his mother through a battle with breast cancer.
Quickly, those three pillars — children’s literacy, animal welfare and promoting early cancer detection became the three pillars to the Erik Jones Foundation when it launched in 2021.
“The cancer portion was really easy,” Jones says. “The literacy was easy as well. Reading is something that has been important to me for all of my life. It’s something that was important to my family. It gives kids a head start. If you’re fluent in reading and able to go to school and not be worried about that, it makes a big difference in their education. The animal welfare part, I’ve been an animal fan my whole life.”
On Thursday, Nov. 21, Jones was named the 2024 Comcast Community Champion of the Year through his dedication of providing charitable donations to organizations and offer direct-to-individual programs within communities across the country.
“Erik has consistently demonstrated his passion for meeting people where they are — offering support, resources, and hope,” Matt Lederer, Comcast vp of brand partnerships and amplification, says. “His dedication to early cancer detection, youth literacy and animal welfare shows how one individual can create meaningful change.”
In 2021, Jones’ foundation donated $20,000 to the Melanoma Research Foundation and distributed hundreds of thousands of sunscreen samples to raise awareness
about sun safety. It has also partnered with Sun Bus, a mobile skin-screening center to bring free screenings to race fans. The foundation also raises funds through the Window of Hope initiative where each year at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, every NASCAR Cup Series car will include a pink window net.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jones began a #ReadWithErik initiative that began as a weekly Facebook Live series. The goal was to help promote children’s literacy by reading along with the kids. That has turned to in-person readings at racetracks on the NASCAR schedule, along with schools nationwide. His foundation has even donated book vending machines to schools and introduced a pen pal program to encourage reading and writing.
To this day, Jones is an avid reader, always trying to better himself.
“It’s rare that I don’t have a book going,” Jones adds. “It was the best way for me that I felt like I could learn anytime that I wanted to figure something out or get better at something. I always chose to read about it and I was able to retain that information well. It’s fun to be able to share it now and get kids more interested in.”
Jones has made a commitment to helping animals, which was inspired by his mother dropping off food and treats for dogs at animal shelters around the holidays, when he was a child. It has led to partnerships with organizations such as the Mid-Michigan K9 Association, Adopt-A-Pet Fenton and Rescue Ranch, as well as donations to animal shelters across the country.
“[Animals have] always meant a lot to us, especially dogs, growing up,” Jones says. “They were always at the racetrack with us, traveling around and a part of the family more than anything.”
Being named the 10th Comcast Community Champion includes a $60,000 donation from Comcast. Jones says it’s by far the biggest donation that his foundation has ever received, and he’s thrilled to get started on how those funds will be distributed to continue spreading his word.
“When you can be acknowledged, it means a bit more,” Jones says. “It helps the foundation having this kind of exposure is big for us, beyond just the platform that we have. The funds are huge, too. That goes a long way in becoming self-sustainable and making this something that can be around for a long time, even past my days of racing, hopefully. It’s pretty exciting and something that I wouldn’t have dreamed of when we started a few years ago.”
Jones was selected by a panel of Comcast and NASCAR executives, including 2023 Comcast Community Champion Ryan Vargas, who was honored last year for his work supporting children with craniosynostosis.
The two other finalists, Scott Crowell (Willow’s Wish Foundation), senior manager of facility operations for NASCAR Productions and Susan McKee (Speedway Children’s Charities), senior director of HR/IT at Charlotte Motor Speedway, will
receive a $30,000 donations to their charities.
Since its inception in 2015, the Comcast Community Champion of the Year program has donated over $1 million to 30 nonprofit organizations, amplifying the efforts of NASCAR community members who dedicate their time helping others. That willingness to help is something Jones is proud of.
“I think racing and the NASCAR community do a great job of giving back,” he says. “There are a lot of sports that do a good job, but I think NASCAR is exceptional at that. The majority of our drivers and people in the garage are out there working and giving back to the community.
“It gave me a huge platform to try and get people connected on these causes. Fortunately, the causes we support are something that probably touches someone in some way throughout their life. It gives me a chance to go out there and meet those people and have them come and help and make a difference through our platform in racing.”
About the author
Dustin joined the Frontstretch team at the beginning of the 2016 season. 2020 marks his sixth full-time season covering the sport that he grew up loving. His dream was to one day be a NASCAR journalist, thus why he attended Ithaca College (Class of 2018) to earn a journalism degree. Since the ripe age of four, he knew he wanted to be a storyteller.
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Congratulations to Erik, he’s very deserving of this award. I became friends with his late father through mutual business connections 25 years ago. While I only met Erik once (and that was before he started racing), I’ve followed his career since he was a little kid racing Quarter Midgets and then Late Model Stocks. I remember about 10 years ago, after something happened in a race how well Erik handled himself and how classy he was in the TV interview afterward. I called Dave the next day and told him that I thought he and his wife Carol had done a great job raising Erik, and should be proud of him. This award is just further proof of the great job they did raising him, and what a class act he is. I don’t think Comcast or NASCAR could have made a better choice!