ALTON - A local organization has built a frisbee disc golf course at the Alton Fire Department.
Something Bigger Than Yourself is a nonprofit that donates to local children’s homes, hospitals and nursing homes. Now, they’ve expanded their reach to include first responders. The frisbee disc golf course will be exclusively for the firefighters to enjoy during their downtime.
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“We have to be thankful for our fire departments, because the things that they do and the things that they see and the lives that they save, it’s just amazing,” said Jay Lipe, who oversees Something Bigger Than Yourself. “If we can bring joy, camaraderie, that’s the point.”
Lipe, a self-described “avid disc golf player,” explained that he saw the land at Alton’s Fire Station #1 and thought it would be a great place for a course. He noticed the firefighters were sitting by the station’s basketball court but not playing.
When he approached the firefighters about the possibility of building them a course, Chief Jesse Jemison said they were “a little skeptical at first.” Lipe took him to a disc golf course to show him how the game is played and how it would work at the fire station. Lipe and Jason Enos then donated time, materials and labor to build the course.
Jemison believes that it was a great decision for the fire station. He pointed out that the firefighters work hard, and this will be a way for them to unwind and enjoy their time together at the station.
“I can’t appreciate that any more than I do,” Jemison said. “We love what we do, and we do it sort of thanklessly. Everybody knows what they’re getting into when we get to put this uniform on. But something like this that’s kind of fun and actually gets us out [is great]. And the firemen are very competitive.”
Lipe is pleased to have the support of community members like Enos and others who made the disc golf course possible. He hopes to make “Frisbees for Firefighters” a mainstay of the Something Bigger Than Yourself organization. He noted the organization aims to make major changes by helping people at a local level.
“I knew that I didn’t want to do it by myself. I wanted to bring the community into it,” Lipe said. “I realized, I think globally, I do, but it was time to act locally.”
For more information about Something Bigger Than Yourself, visit SomethingBiggerThanYourself.org.
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