Flatiron Bar Raising Money For Families First Aid Group

East Atlanta's is honoring one its beloved patrons by raising a shot glass to one of his favorite charities.

The Village eatery is sponsoring "We’ll Drink To That: Flatiron and
Families First," to raise money for Families First, an Atlanta-based non-profit focused on children and their caregivers who are in crisis.

Between now and March 14, the bar is donating $1 of every shot of Jagermeister or Fireball sold to Families First.

The effort honors longtime customer Greg Hall, who is in the marriage and family-counseling program at Mercer University and intern at Families First. (Fireballs, cinnamon whiskey, are Hall's shots of choice.)

"He's always just been a really good regular customer and always been generous with not only just buying drinks for people or being a nice guy but also helping other people out that are in need," Flatiron owner David Bishop told East Atlanta Patch.

"There's one person in particular that I know of who lives in a halfway house — he's not the most stable of people financially and [Hall] takes him out clothes shopping every once in a while, buys him a couple of outfits so that he can look for a job,” Bishop said. "He's just always been a generous person, that's how he stood out in the crowd."

So when the Flatiron looked for a way to give back to the community, Bishop looked to Hall.

"As a local business owner, it's just the right thing to do to occasionally give back," Bishop said. "Watching him day after day be a generous person and a nice person, we decided to do a charity benefit to the charity of his choice."

Hall, who moved to two Atlanta 3½ years ago with his wife, Lori, from Detroit, discovered the Flatiron on the suggestion of one of her clients.

Lori Hall, who was a marriage and family counselor, died in an accident in 2009, just five days short of their 20th wedding anniversary.

"I didn't have family or friends here — I'd only been here a couple of years but the people I'd gotten to know here, they supported me through that," Greg Hall, who hails from Ontario, Canada, said.

Following her death, Hall, who spent 10 years working for the General Motors Foundation, enrolled in Mercer University's marriage and family therapy program and is on track to finish the two-year program later this year.

"I'm trying to walk in my wife's footsteps," Hall said, explaining when she was in school, his wife worked for a program in Detroit that had a philosophy similar to that of Families First.

The agency, he said, helps people from all walks of life, who are in search of support in their time of need.

"I heard it said recently that for people who have resources, the economy has bounced back," Hall said.

"But for people who don't, that may not be the case so Families First has been an opportunity for me to not only meet the requirements of my internship by providing counseling to individuals, families and couples, but it's a great place to be a part of because of the great work that they do in the community."