THE FIREHOUSE LIFE
By Christina N. Smith

How many people do you know answer the phone at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, in the midst of a peaceful sleep to go jump in the car to pick up someone. And not just anyone, yet a stranger, and not just any stranger, A DRUNK STRANGER.

There is such a man believe it or not that does do this, and he does it almost every night. His name is Henry Hilley,a man in his mid life, who owns Designated Driver of America. And I guess "he takes the cake of that title", unless you know of anyone else that wakes up at any hour to pick up a drunk stranger to forebade them from driving on the road.

I spent a summer with Henry Hilley, and as I call it "The Firehouse" You could frequently see us, in the wee hours of the morning doing one of the following: surfing the net, eating at the Waffle House, (which was a personal favorite of ours), sleeping, or picking up and driving home, a person who had "one too many"

To wake from your sleep hearing "fire fire" meant jumping in the car and picking up a drunk person.

Life in the "firehouse" is actually not bad, people just wonder why you sleep late in the morning.

So Henry Hilley has set his schedule around that of a bartender, and "why" you ask? To prevent you from being injured or killed by a drunk driver, to prevent a bar from receiving a "wrongful death lawsuit" because they let an intoxicated driver go freely, to prevent you from receiving a phone call from a hospital, saying they have your Mother, Father, Daughter, Son, Sister, Brother, etc. and that they have been in an accident.

And get this, he only accepts donations!!!

This concept has an ability to catch on, believe it or not. The main thing I received from being at the "firehouse" was knowing that others were being looked after.

Henry Hilley makes sure he never misses a phone call, and if you don't reach him within five minutes, you really should worry, because that's abnormal for him. He takes pride in never missing a phone call.

Those of you who already know Henry, Thank your Lucky Stars, Those of you who don't know him, do yourself a favor...challenge yourself to know such a great man, a great person, a great idea.

With all due Respect and Sincerity,

Christina