Barnsley Gardens and Southern Company are partnering for a weekend of activities Oct. 5-7 at world-renowned Barnsley Gardens to celebrate fall and raise funds for the FDNY Rescue 3 Family Fund. The Fall Festival and golf tournament will provide financial support to children and families of those left behind from Sept. 11, 2001.

Southern Company informally adopted FDNY Rescue 3 due to an employee relation and due to Rescue 3’s lack of a neighborhood in the Bronx. Rescue 3 lost nine firefighters in the Sept. 11 tragedy.

“Southern Company wanted to do something special for these great firefighters that we’ve come to know so well, so we have pooled our resources and partnered with Barnsley Gardens to create a fun-filled weekend that will help a good cause,” said Brenda Miles, Southern Company Conference Services event planner and main organizer of the fundraiser.

“Everyone at Barnsley Gardens is so very excited to be partnering with Southern Company for this wonderful cause. We are very honored to be able to lend a helping hand and support these families turning their time of need,” said Nancy Wilkerson, Director of Sales and Marketing at Barnsley Gardens.

The weekend activities include:

Fall Festival, Saturday, Oct. 5, noon-4 p.m. Have a brat and a stein, it is Fall Festival time! Enjoy the German tradition of honoring spicy sausages and the crops that yield thy beer. There will be German beers and wines, as well as arts & crafts, live bands, silent auction and much, much more. Tickets are $50.00 (plus applicable sales tax) and include all food and drink.

Golf tournament, Monday, Oct. 7 Total of 144 golfers (36 foursomes); breakfast, box lunch and awards reception included. Prizes awarded. Entry fee is $700 per foursome, or $175 per person (plus applicable sales tax).

Several firefighters from FDNY Rescue 3 will be on hand to show their appreciation and to participate in both activities.

Barnsley Gardens is located off I-75 North in Adairsville, GA. Take I-75N to exit 306. Turn left off the exit. Travel about 2.5 miles on Highway 140. Turn left at Hall Station Road and travel south about 5.5 miles. Hall Station Road will intersect Barnsley Gardens Road. At intersection, turn right onto Barnsley Gardens Road. Travel 2.2 miles to entrance of the resort. The resort is located about one hour from Atlanta.

Barnsley Gardens is located 60 miles northwest of Atlanta, Georgia and 52 miles from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Barnsley Gardens features 33 guest cottages, each with its own garden, that house 70 individually decorated suites. Recreational facilities include an 18-hole championship golf course designed by Jim Fazio, two clay tennis courts, a formal billiards room, fishing, walking trails, horseback riding, clay shooting course, bird watching, a full-service spa with fitness center, and Olympic-size swimming pool. Reservations can be made by calling (770) 773-7480 or toll-free (877) 773-2447.

With 4 million customers and nearly 37,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier super-regional energy company in the Southeast and a leading U.S. producer of electricity. Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states, a fast-growing competitive generation company, an energy services business and a competitive retail natural gas business, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are 15 percent below the national average. Southern Company has been named No. 1 on Fortune magazine’s 2002 “America’s Most Admired Companies” list in the Electric and Gas Utility industry. Southern Company has more than 500,000 shareholders, making its common stock one of the most widely held in the United States. Visit the Southern Company Web site at www.southerncompany.com.