Thompson Helping to Build a Better Birmingham

78 Magazine recently interviewed Jordan Michael Thompson, one of Birmingham's rising stars who recently started his own nonprofit, Teams for Troops.78: How did the idea for Teams for Troops originate? JMT: My colleagues and I saw a problem and thought we could find the best possible solution with respect to what we’re capable of here at home.When military personnel are constantly dealing with physical as well as mental battle scars, professional and collegiate sports can provide an escape, if only for a short amount of time. With a network of friends who are also in the military, athletes, coaches, or affiliated with sports teams in some way; we noticed that together, we could have a positive influence in servicemembers' lives. While taking a non-profit law class at the Cumberland School of Law, I was able to hammer out the final legal details of Teams For Troops becoming an IRS certified 501(c)(3).We've been around since September 11th 2015 and haven't slowed down since.78: Talk a little more about the mission of Teams for Troops. JMT: Care packages from Teams For Troops aim to aid moments of difficulty for deployed service members, ultimately enhancing troop fandom through morale-boosting sports memorabilia. We'll send T-shirts, jerseys, hats, and even socks with a service member's favorite sports team logo on them; giving deployed military personnel a piece of the home team while they're away, reminding them of the freedom they're fighting for.Additionally, we like to give sporting event tickets to service members once they return from their deployment, so they can either attend games with their friends or their families, which can ease the transition back to life on American soil.Lastly, we aim to raise awareness for traumatic brain injuries, an ongoing issue for veterans and athletes, both. TBI is becoming more and more common and are now more noticable than ever before. Symptoms from TBI include but are not limited to: anger, depression, sleeplessness, and suicidal thoughts. With the veteran suicide rate being so high (some estimate it to be 22 a day), we hope research can hinder the TBI rate, ultimately hindering the suicide rate.78: You've been interviewed on Fox News, you're running for City Council, you're going to law school. You're a different kind of guy. What's the ultimate goal for you? JMT: I've been blessed enough to have opportunities, a great education, meet influential people, and learn from mistakes; others' as well as my own. I've done my best to capitalize on those opportunities, gain knowledge during my education, listen to those influential people and appreciate the hand I've been dealt. What I'm getting at is that I don't think I'm special, but I know that by utilizing all that I do have, I can give back, and put others in a better position than they were before. That's all I can ask for. Leadership is action, not position, and whether I'm a City Councilman in Birmingham or President of the United States, helping others be in a better position than they were in the day before is always going to be a priority.78: BirmingJam was an outstanding success. To what or whom do you attribute this success? JMT: Teamwork. I tried making a list of every single person who helped pull off BirmingJam and the list was over 50 people long. The staff at Regions Field was phenominal, my friends who volunteered their time were great, the musicians, production staff, everyone who promoted the event, my friends in the media; there are so many people who worked with me to make our event successful and it couldn't have happened without them. Communication, adaptation, even listening to suggestions of guests during the event... all of these things attributed to BirmingJam working well. The fireworks and encore by the Bama Gamblers at midnight was the most appropriate ending to an arduous 9 months of planning, and I couldn't be proud of the result of everyone's hard work.78: Birmingham has become an event community. Why do you think it's important to support these events? JMT: Birmingham is on the rise and now, more than ever before, we have to support each other. We have to continue to keep up this train of progress without losing steam. We see other big cities perpetually rising; rising in population, rising in economic growth, rising in education success rates, rising in all of the categories which make a city great... and we can be right there with them, but we have to lift each other up. Instead, we seem to be tearing eachother down or slowing down progress in a lot of ways. We need not to be the next Atlanta or the next Nashville, we need to be the next Birmingham. We need to remember our history, we need to learn from our mistakes, we need to come together and celebrate what we have going for us right now. Celebrating events in Birmingham, especially those which are for a good cause, only betters our city for the future. These large events in Birmingham can put us back on the map as a tourist destination, as a staple in the state, and as a city that finally has their act together.Now, I'll be the first to admit that our government has problems, and I'm not saying that throwing an event is necessarily going to solve those problems, but if we can bring over 550 people of different races, ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds... together in joy and appreciation, celebrating the city of Birmingham... well that's certainly better than those people sitting at home and not interacting with each other at all. Events bring people together, and it will take togetherness, not divisiveness, to make our city even better than it already is. It's time to build Birmingham together, and that's exactly what we plan to do. 78-------Links:TeamsForTroops.orgFacebook.com/TeamsForTroopsAL@Teamsfortroops on instagramThompson2017.comhttps://www.facebook.com/JMThompson2017@Jmthompson2017 on Instagram78 Magazine is a biography magazine based out of Jasper. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.