Jason Windham loves Demopolis. He’s just returning the favor. When he arrived to town six years ago, he didn’t know a soul. Since then, his business efforts have introduced him to a community to which he’s proud to give back.

Windham owns both Holiday Cleaners and Batter Up Sports Grille and somehow manages to sleep a few hours. He can rely on his employees, the many people he trusts to keep his businesses operating smoothly at least until he wakes up.

“I don’t get much sleep,” he said. “But it’s not too bad. I’ve got a great support group, a great group of folks.”

Even through the country’s turbulent economic times, Windham has managed to keep a strong staff with relatively little turnover, which pleases the boss.

“We’ve been fortunate that we haven’t had to lay anybody off,” he said. “I’m so happy to employ local people, and we want to continue to employ local people.”

With four locations, Holiday Cleaners employs roughly 20 people. Windham took over the business in July of 2003.

For 2010, Windham wants to focus on continuing to grow his businesses in Marengo County while also participating in charitable acts throughout the community. Active in the rotary club, United Methodist Church, the chamber of commerce and the local school system, he never stops looking for ways to help others out.

“I feel like I’ve been blessed,” Windham said. “We moved here six years ago and didn’t know a soul. The Lord’s given me tenfold back.

“Any chance we have to give back to the community, I enjoy that privilege because of the many blessings I’ve been given. I wish I could do more, but sometimes financially you get to the point where you can’t. We try not to turn anybody down if we’re able.”

Windham throws a lot of support to local athletics and doesn’t exclude any sports or gender. Be it boys or girls, baseball, basketball or football, he wants to help even if that means just providing some food from Batter Up to celebrate after a game. He is looking forward to the spring when several tournaments will take place.

Other events Windham is involved in include Christmas on the river and other local youth sporting events. Batter Up will continue to provide food for athletic teams and events, as well as a coach’s talk show.

Windham said he tapped into an avenue that hadn’t been explored yet with promotions of the local athletics, but he just hopes he’s helping them the way they need it. He also supports local pageants.

“We’re here to make a living, but I think we’ve impacted some people’s lives by offering a quality product in a quality environment,” Windham said. “Our goal is to be locally involved.”

Batter Up specializes in cooking and serving wings with 13 different flavors, as well as sandwiches, salads, burgers and shrimp and catfish dinners.