We want you to get to know our team! In this blog series, we’ll periodically share employee spotlights in which we’ll tell the stories of the dedicated and innovative humans that "drive" AMS Vans. It’s the people that make up the heart of a company – and we believe we have the best! Some people, after you meet them, are pretty impossible to forget. Well, Dallas Crum happens to be one of those guys. If you’ve visited our Atlanta location or stopped by our booth at Abilities Expo in the last 10 years or so, chances are you remember Dallas’ cool name, honest smile, big energy or the colorful artwork adorning his skin. But, there’s much more to Dallas Crum. In this blog, we share his story and a look into why he’s so committed to helping people in the disability community.

At 18, Dallas Joins AMS Vans

AMS Vans started in 1998 by Dallas’ dad, Kip Crum. About ten years later, after graduating high school, Dallas joined the company. He recalls, “I was trying to decide what career path I would take – what I really wanted to do in life. In the meantime, I had an opportunity to go and work for my dad and I decided to take it.” He continues, “I started in the back, washing cars and doing visual inspections on cars we were buying. I’d take pictures of the vehicles to post on our website. Over the last decade, I worked in just about every area of the company – from sales, to nationwide deliveries, to even being operations manager for a while.” Dallas says that delivering mobility vehicles to families nationwide was one of his favorite roles over the years. At around 19 years old, he was seeing some beautiful country around the U.S. and getting some valuable perspective about the customers that AMS Vans serves.

“I really liked doing deliveries because I got to see first-hand how people’s lives were changed when they received their mobility vehicle.”

In 2014, Dallas was running daily operations and business was going well selling vehicles online. The company was ready to expand to continue serving customers in the best way possible, so they decided to purchase the building that is now the Atlanta (Tucker) location, which became one of the largest mobility dealers in the nation. Today, AMS Vans also has customer-facing locations in Houston and Phoenix.

Disability Hits Home for Dallas and his Family

When Dallas first started at AMS Vans, he had no way of knowing that the disability community would become such a profound part of his life, both professionally and personally. While business was expanding at AMS, Dallas and his wife, Faith, were welcoming their second child into their lives, a daughter named Riley, to join their son, Ethan. But, as life can be unpredictable, the Crum family had a challenging journey ahead. All most parents want is for their children to be happy and healthy and to thrive in every way. So, when something threatens those things, it can feel pretty terrifying. Around the time Riley was born, the Crums found out that she had an extremely rare chromosome disorder – a diagnosis that less than 200 people share worldwide. As if they weren’t already worrying enough about one child, Ethan received an autism diagnosis shortly after. Suddenly, everything changed for Dallas, including his understanding of the community he worked in. He shares, “For the first time, I really started to understand what our community goes through, instead of watching from the outside and thinking I understood. I got to experience what it takes every day. You don’t realize the emotional, financial and physical stress that these types of situations put on people.”

“With a disability or medical diagnosis, it seems like you’re always fighting with doctors, schools, and everyone else, to get the resources they need.”

The Crums soon learned that there was therapy available that could help their son, Ethan, but it was not covered by insurance. It was called Intensive ABA Therapy and the price tag was $35,000 for the year of therapy that Ethan needed. Dallas and Faith decided they would do whatever it took to make it happen. They had to sell their cars and dip into savings, but they were able to pay for it.

Dallas and his wife met when Faith was a barista at the Starbucks that Dallas frequented each morning. This November, they’ll celebrate 10 years of marriage. Ethan is now 7 and Riley is 5. None of us may know what the future holds, so the Crum family takes it one day at a time. Dallas reflects, “Riley’s prognosis is unknown, so we don’t really know what to expect every day. But, what we do know now is both of our kids are thriving and that’s all we can ask for. We’re thankful each day to have the chance to love and cherish them.”

Dallas Pours His Heart Into Community Relations

After Riley was born, Dallas started working more directly with the disability community, collaborating with local non-profits and attending consumer-facing events. When AMS Vans was acquired by VMI (a leading manufacturer of wheelchair-accessible vehicles) in 2017, Dallas’ role transitioned to support both organizations on a national level as the Director of Partnerships and Community Development. And, it seems to be the role he was born for. When asked what he loves most about the work he does in the disability industry, Dallas replied, “I love relationships. I like advocating and fighting for people who sometimes can’t or won’t fight for themselves. I’m a passionate person and I like to live life to the fullest and bring that energy to the environment I’m in. Connecting with the community at events fills my heart with reason, vision, purpose… love.”

“I feel things deeply, so when I’m a part of something bigger than myself – it fuels me, drives me. When I’m around my family and the community, it keeps things in perspective and allows me to remember how honored I am to be part of all this.”

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Dallas Crum, Mack Marsh of Parking Mobility, and Kristina Rhoades pose for a photo at Abilities Expo[/caption] While Dallas could probably work for just about any company in the industry, he’s with AMS Vans and VMI because it’s where he feels like he can do the most good. “The passion and the vision of this company is what gets me,” Dallas explains, “our hearts are in the right place. We’re all about trying to make accessible vehicle solutions more available and more affordable and support our community - more than anyone else in the industry.” “I don’t think anyone else can rival our passion. We want to rally behind our community to make a difference. We want everyone to have mobility freedom – and we’re committed to finding a way to provide that, above and beyond just building and selling accessible vehicles. We’re here to make a positive impact, and we plan to do so,” Dallas concludes. Click to learn more about AMS Vans or VMI and view our vast selection of wheelchair accessible vehicles.