Community

Atlas Butler has been fortunate to be in business for 101 years, largely thanks to the wonderful community with which we have the privilege of working. Since the beginning, we’ve greatly appreciated not only helping our community with their heating, cooling and plumbing needs but the opportunities to impact and be involved as well.

In 2022, we continued to prioritize our community affairs focus of being a local company with local people, making an impact right here and now. In doing so, we supported 32 local organizations this year.

Our community support ranges from animal welfare charities, organizations dedicated to our youth, general community wellness, and, last but not least, our veterans. Below are the organizations we had the honor to partner with in 2022:

• Fueling Futures: Olentangy Little League, Directions for Youth and Families, Toys for Tots, Columbus City Schools, Hilliard City Schools, Upper Arlington Schools, and Pius X School
• Hometown Wellness: Sam’s Fans, Kiwanis Club of Columbus, Bottoms Up Coffee Diaper Drive, Cancer Support Community of Central Ohio (CSCCO), Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio (DSACO), Life Care Alliance, Columbus Dispatch’s Everyday Heroes, and Salvation Army of Central Ohio
• Fur a Good Cause: Columbus Humane Society, Columbus Friends of the Shelter, and WAG!Fest
• Helping the Heroes: M.A.S.H Pantry

Atlas Butler will always make serving our community, along with our customers, a priority and look forward to doing so throughout 2023. 

By: Joel Alexander, Ride TO Decide program graduate and is full-time member of the Atlas Butler team

For years, Atlas Butler has prioritized the professional development and training of the next generation of HVAC Technicians and Plumbers. This foundation has set Atlas Butler up to continually incorporate new best practices and prepare the next generation of the workforce. To further build upon this strategy, in Spring 2022, they introduced the Ride TO Decide program to introduce more high schoolers to career opportunities within the trades through job shadowing.

I applied for the program after participating in a ride-along with an Atlas Butler employee and was excited to be picked as one of the program’s first participants. After completing the program, I officially started full-time. The program allowed me the opportunity to see what a full-time career with the company would be like and I’m even more excited to be working full-time with Atlas Butler.

Like many high school kids with graduation looming, I wondered what I wanted to do after school. After figuring out college wasn’t the right fit for me. I started looking into the trades and the opportunities they could offer, which is why I got in touch with my neighbor, an Atlas Butler employee, to schedule a ride-along and ultimately enroll in the Ride TO Decide program.

Growing up with an Atlas Butler employee as a neighbor, I always assumed I knew what it would be like to work in the industry, but after my first day in the program, I was wrong. I underestimated the variety of experiences a career in the HVAC trade offered, and within the first two weeks, I shadowed several technicians solving different problems. Through this experience, I saw first-hand, without any sugar coating, what a technician’s day is really like.

The experience gave me a good understanding of the skills and processes I would need to know as an HVAC technician. It also helped me understand that many of the things I heard about careers in the trades are not true. The biggest one was on day one, and it was that a career in the trades is for a specific type of person. Thanks to this program, I’ve met people with all sorts of life experiences, and I call many of them friends since joining Atlas Butler full-time.

The Ride TO Decide program helped me figure out a career in the HVAC industry, specifically at Atlas Butler, is where I see myself long-term.

Surprise partnership helps disability nonprofit grow

For four generations, Atlas Butler has supported causes ranging from education, health services, veteran care, animal welfare, and more. And, when community initiatives directly impact our customers, the support is even more meaningful. As a home services company whose technicians care about those we serve, we are always looking for ways to surprise and delight during our appointments. One of our most fun and impactful surprises to date hits the spot for customers’ furry friends – free dog treats when we visit their homes.

Through a unique partnership with Growlers, a local nonprofit that employs individuals with disabilities to bake dog treats using spent grains from local breweries, Atlas Butler is making pups happy and helping a local nonprofit flourish.

To date, the Atlas Butler team has distributed more than 7,000 bones purchased from Growlers during service calls, at community events, and to our team members’ own pets.

“It’s about more than just buying bones locally,” said Atlas Butler President Michael Swepston. “It’s about changing lives. We know that with each bone purchased, we are supporting a bright future for a friend and neighbor.”

Atlas Butler looks forward to ordering bones each month and has seen the immediate impact our partnership is having in the community. Over the last year, Growlers’ has grown from four bakers to eight and purchased its first branded company vehicle to deliver orders and expand its presence in Central Ohio and beyond.

Reflecting on how Growlers has grown since partnering with Atlas Butler, Tina Garriott, executive director at Growlers, said “I never take things for granted, and ‘thank you’ seems so small to convey the gratitude we have for Atlas Butler’s impact.”

Atlas Butler customers, partners, and team members are just as big of fans of Growlers as the company is.

• An Atlas Butler employee’s family loves the bones so much that they are exploring a partnership with Growlers in their family-owned coffee shop in Logan.
• Atlas Butler customers have placed an individual Growlers orders. One customer noted that they heard about Growlers through Atlas Butler and their Yorkie loves them.
• Families who adopt through the Humane Society are enjoying Atlas Butler-Growlers bones.
• Some Atlas Butler customers are even partnering with Growlers for their own businesses.

For those wishing to learn more about Growlers, or order treats for their furry friends, visit growlersdogbones.org

Atlas Butler is returning as a corporate sponsor for the 2nd Annual Mighty Mallory Charity Golf Outing, which will benefit the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio (DSACO).

The event –an 18-hole, four-person scramble –will take place on Saturday, August 20 at 8 a.m at Oakhaven Golf Club, 2871 U.S. Hwy 23 N, Delaware, OH.

For $90 per player, entry includes:

• Use of a golf cart
• 2 drink tickets
• BBQ pork buffet
• Unlimited range balls prior to tee-off
• Beverage cart service on the course
• On-course live scoring
• Prize for longest drive, putt, and closest to the pin
• Hole-in-one prizes, including a Club Car Golf Cart ($13,000 value), an iPad, Scotty Cameron Phantom X Putter, or a Yeti Tundra Cooler)
• 50/50 raffle and other door prizes

To participate in the event, please register here by Saturday, Aug. 6.

Mallory

The namesake and inspiration for Team Mighty Mallory was born with Down Syndrome in 2014. Her parents, Mary and Eric, have since become heavily involved with DSACO. Mary has become an active leader on the Buddy Walk Committee and Finance Committees, and the Might Mallory team has consistently been a top fundraiser for the organization.

Atlas Butler is honored to support Mallory, Mary, Eric, and their family as they work to raise awareness and funds for DSACO.

Every year, LifeCare Alliance – a local nonprofit that provides comprehensive at-home services to individuals in need – holds their Beat the Heat Fan Campaign, which benefits central Ohio’s most vulnerable residents during extreme heat emergencies. The campaign has been going on for more than 20 years and each year more than 3,000 fans are distributed to Central Ohio families.

This year Atlas Butler is partnering with LifeCare Alliance to fund their efforts and expand their impact. From Monday, June 6 to Friday, June 17, Atlas Butler will donate $10 from every Heating & Cooling call to LifeCare Alliance to help purchase fans.

Accordingly to LifeCare Alliance, older adults, medically challenged, and homebound individuals are more susceptible to heat exhaustion and heatstroke. A fan in a room can make a critical difference by reducing the temperature by up to 10 degrees.

“Atlas Butler has long believed in being involved in our community in as many ways as we can,” said CEO & Owner Mark Swepston. “In that spirit, we’re looking forward to supporting LifeCare Alliance’s annual Fan Campaign, and we hope that our community of customers will join us in any way they can.”

For those wishing to support the fan campaign on an individual level, LifeCare Alliance Vice President of Advancement Rebecca Hurd says that the best way to do so is through monetary donations since transportation and storing large box fans can create obstacles for some people. Click here to make an online donation.

But for those who are able to contribute in-kind gifts of brand new fans, they can be dropped off at your nearest Franklin County fire station for LifeCare Alliance to pick up, or at their Harmon Avenue Distribution Facility, 670 Harmon Ave.

Additionally, customers are able to purchase fans for direct delivery through LifeCare Alliance’s Amazon Wish List. Fans are being accepted all summer, with a particular focus on the month of June so that fans can be distributed before the hottest days of the year.

For over 100 years, Atlas Butler has focused on helping families thrive. That means supporting every member of the family — including the furry ones.

To that end, Atlas Butler has been in partnership with Columbus Humane for more than 10 years, in that time donating thousands of dollars in funds and in-kind donations to support their efforts to care for local animals.

Our friends at Columbus Humane recently shared with us that due to current economic conditions, many pet owners – struggling to afford necessary supplies or unexpected vet visits – were faced with the possibility of putting their pets up for adoption.

“After seeing the boom of puppy adoptions that took place during the pandemic, a lot of people expected to see a surge in returns after families returned to work and school, but we’re actually seeing the opposite,” said Brittany Williams of Columbus Humane. “Those pets became a part of peoples’ families, and when times get tough, you don’t turn your back on family. So what we’re actually seeing is people making personal sacrifices to care for their pets.”

As a result of this, Columbus Humane put a renewed focus on helping these animals stay with their families. Whether it’s through low-cost vaccines, spay or neuter procedures, or pet food, Williams said that Columbus Humane wants to help pets stay with their families.

“When we see pets in good homes with good people, we do what we can to help them stay there.”

To support this work, in March 2022 Atlas Butler made an additional donation to assist people with feeding their pets and paying vet bills. The donation served as one of the largest contributions from Atlas Butler since the company started partnering with the organization.

“For so many people – ourselves included – pets are part of what makes our homes … homes,” said Atlas Butler President Michael Swepston. “So whether it’s helping pet-owners keep their four-legged friends at home, or supporting Columbus Humane as they work to find forever homes for the animals in their care, Atlas Butler is happy to be a long-standing partner of this great organization.”

For those wishing to support Columbus Humane, the easiest way is to visit www.columbushumane.org/give, or to drop off any supplies or food, even opened food that is re-sealed with duct tape is welcome.

WAG!, beloved by pet owners and their BFFs (Best Furry Friends), was created as a means to celebrate our canine-human friendships. It’s a FREE and fun event for dogs and their people…and so much more. It’s also the biggest event in Ohio helping dogs in need, bringing dog-serving rescue groups and organizations together with thousands of donors and potential adopters.

WAG! Is a full day of activities and treats for the entire family. Dog-related activities include agility demonstrations, swimming at Water Bark Beach and a cool place to take a break at the Atlas Butler Ice Castle.

Atlas Butler proudly supported the NBC4 Clear the Shelters Pet Adoption event on August 18th.  Several county shelters across Central Ohio were able to find homes for furry friends in need.  In 2017, over 2,000 animals were rescued nationwide thanks to these efforts.

For more information on the Clear the Shelters pet adoption campaign and how you can help, click here: https://www.nbc4i.com/community/clear-the-shelters

Congratulations to our Residential Comfort Advisors on their win at this year’s Kiwanis Corporate Regatta!!  The Kiwanis Corporate Regatta supports the Summer Reading Program for the Columbus Public Libraries.  Over the years Kiwanis has raised more than $250,000 for this program.  Atlas Butler has had a long-standing relationship with the Kiwanis organization and its many fund-raising events for various organizations throughout Columbus and Central Ohio.

During the Winter Games, Atlas Butler will donate $10 of every service call to Columbus Humane, previously known as Capital Area Humane Society. Columbus Humane’s mission is to fight animal cruelty, help animals in need and advocate for their well-being.  Thank you for your support!