Recent storms have certainly kept the firefighters of Birmingham’s historic Station # 6 busy assisting stranded Birminghamians from the rising flood waters. According to BHAMWIKI, The original station #6 was constructed in 1905 at 1501 3rd Avenue North and is the oldest Birmingham fire station still standing.
Originally designed as a 2 bay 2 story station it has been center of much of the department’s history with an original name of “The Greenley Station”. From 1983 to 2020 it was the home of the Firehouse Shelter, an emergency homeless shelter.
Station #6 unquestionably has a long history of giving back to the community which is why ATR recently paid them a visit to do a little giving back of our own.
Each year ATR and our supportive customers select a diverse range of charities to support, and this year is no exception. I must admit, our closing 2019 team building contributions to a local family who had lost everything in a fire, and bicycle gifts to the Children’s Hospital in Peoria IL would be hard to top. [article link]
With COVID restrictions in mind Ray Magee our Director of Client Services challenged our Birmingham AL crew lead by Charles Parks to come up with a donation that helped the storm ravaged community we so proudly serve. Since team building exercises that benefit children were out of the question, we turned to another local charity that has raised millions of dollars for the Children of Alabama fund.
The Regions Tradition Annual Golf Tournament has raised over $4.5 million for local charities and more than $19 million since the tournament’s inception in 1992. Most of the proceeds are donated to the Children’s of Alabama fund which serves the needs of many local families.
Purchasing a sponsorship package that helps children and includes VIP access to the tournament, various outings and even an opportunity to play with the pros checked all the boxes. After the year we have all had who wouldn’t want to take a few days off to enjoy some VIP treatment at one of the nicest Golf Courses in the nation, sound like fun right.
Although many of us would love to have attended, this experience was reserved for the first responders of Fire Station # 6 in Birmingham AL.
“It is not about helping the ATR Birmingham site, it is about helping those who help others”
said Justin Hardy the ATR Compliance Administrator from Birmingham.
Charles and Justin stopped by the station to speak with Captain Bryan Harrell and Lieutenant Daryl Lane about the event. The Captain told us the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service Department [link] has been working very hard throughout the pandemic and he graciously accepted the tickets on the department’s behalf.
As it turns out, many of the firefighters from Station #6 including the Lieutenant enjoy playing Golf but admittedly have been preoccupied with taking care of others and have not had a chance to play very often.
Justin later told me they spent quite a while talking that day and he could tell the men really appreciated the opportunity to pay it forward to other deserving people within the department. We sincerely hope this small gesture to pay it forward by helping someone who helps others will catch on and continue throughout the year.
If you would like to see your company’s retired IT assets and outdated electronics benefit others you can donate a portion or even all of the proceeds to your favorite charity, give us a call at 877-781-7779. ATR provides our corporate customers with free profit and loss statements that makes it easy to help others.
As Justin put it so eloquently, “it’s not about helping ourselves, it’s about helping those who help others” and we couldn’t agree more, it feels good to give.
