COMMENCEMENT 2024

Lydia Russo ’06 - Realtor, Co-creator of the Vienna VA Foodies Facebook group, Founder of non-profit One Neighborhood Foundation, Vienna Community Leader 

Lydia Russo ’06

While Lydia’s “day job” is being a realtor, what she does when she is “off the clock” has had an amazing impact on her local community. Lydia created the Vienna VA Foodies Facebook group with her dear friend, Christopher Drinkuth, to celebrate the vibrant, ever-growing food scene in the town of Vienna, Virginia. The group grew from about 11,000 members before the pandemic to more than 33,000 today. Lydia leveraged this group during the pandemic to help local restaurants stay in business during the shutdown by posting who was open when and ways to safely buy food from them. 

In addition to local food deliveries, the Vienna VA Foodies Facebook Group has also come together to help some local groups and organizations. The group had a pop-up fundraiser for the Anacostia area of Washington, one of the most vulnerable communities in the District. Within two days, the group was able to raise over $20,000, which was delivered to Martha’s Table, a D.C. nonprofit focused on supporting strong children, strong families, and strong communities by increasing access to quality education, health and wellness, and family resources. Lydia has used her time and platform with Vienna VA Foodies to coordinate tens of thousands of hot meals, grocery deliveries, grocery cards, and cash donations to people and organizations in need in the Vienna area. From the work that Lydia has done with her community, she founded a non-profit called One Neighborhood Foundation, which supports frontliners, first responders, and food-insecure families through meals.