May 13—Atlas Roofing employees and friends celebrated 40 years in business Thursday at the company's Meridian headquarters by giving back to the local woman who designed the company's first logo.

Jeff Key, the company's director of marketing, said the history of how the asphalt shingle manufacturer got its logo had been forgotten until recently, when an employee found an old press release explaining its history.

"A lady named Belinda Harvey had designed our original logo," he said. "She'd gone to Meridian Community College, and we're like, 'Let's see if we can find her,' and we did."

Harvey, who was originally awarded a $200 savings bond for winning the Atlas Roofing logo design contest in 1982, was still living in the same home in Meridian.

Atlas Marketing and Communication Manager Laura Carlson said a company wide email was sent out encouraging Atlas employees to donate to recognize Harvey for her work 40 years ago. Atlas leadership also agreed to have the company match employees' giving by 150%.

"Because her life has been of service to others, we have the opportunity to give back to the woman who helped us give our most visible symbol, our Atlas company logo," she said, reading from the email sent to employees.

In addition, Carlson said Atlas was partnering with a local contractor to put a new roof on Harvey's house in recognition for her service to the company.

"We explained that with the help of a local contractor and our local plant right here in Meridian, we were going to replace her roof with products that we know will protect her," she said.

Carlson said the goal was met within five days of the email being sent and continued to grow in the three weeks leading up to the anniversary celebration.

"We are so proud of the family culture we have here at Atlas," Digital Marketing Manager Tiara Searcy said. "With 166 employees raising over $15,000."

With the company's match, Searcy said, Atlas would be presenting Harvey with a check for $37,687.

While the Atlas logo was updated last year, Harvey's 1982 design was the company's symbol for more than three decades. In that time, Key said, Atlas Roofing has grown from one asphalt shingle plant in Meridian to 32 manufacturing plants in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, as well as expansions into foam insulation, panel products and other materials used in roofing and construction.

Thursday's celebration also featured the annual Hood Safety Awards, which are given by Atlas' parent company, Hood Industries Inc., to recognized plants for remaining accident free. Atlas President Kenneth Farrish said that this year, there were no accidents at any of Atlas' three Meridian facilities.

"There's three facilities here, and each of them have dangerous operations," he said. "This past year, we had no incidents whatsoever in any of those three facilities. So we're going to celebrate that today as well."

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