Georgia Sheriffs' Youth Homes
The Georgia District of Key Club International has partnered with the Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes for more than 30 years – and is once again raising the bar by setting out to build an outdoor pavilion and family counseling area at the Boys Ranch campus in Hahira, Ga. – aptly dubbed the Key Club Wellness Pavilion.
The new project will cost $44,500 in total – an aggressive goal that Key Clubs in Georgia will meet by March 6, 2021.
For 2022-2023, the district goal is $15,000 – the amount needed to complete the Key Club Wellness Pavilion project!
Learn more about the project:
To help reach the goal of $15,000 for the 2022-2023 year, each Key Club member is asked to donate $5 as a part of the “My hi-five” campaign. If each member in the district raised just $5 – we’d easily surpass our goal of $15,000 for this year and be well on our way to completing the Key Club Wellness Pavilion!
How to Donate:
Make an online donation (clubs should not use the online donation option - clubs should mail checks or contact Heather Brindle to receive an invoice to process a credit card for a specific amount).
Mail a check, made payable to “Georgia District Key Club” to:
Georgia District Key Club
Attn: Project Account
P.O. Box 6618
Macon, GA 31208
About Our Relationship with the Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes:
The 1988-89 Georgia District Board decided that the District Project for the year would focus on the needs of the residents of a local organization that provided a loving, caring home for children that were abandoned, neglected or abused in the state of Georgia. That year, the decision was made to make the Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes the District Project of the Georgia District of Key Club.
Since that year, Key Clubbers from around the state have raised more than $1 million for this incredible organization.
In 1992, the Georgia District of Key Club International decided that all funds raised for the District Project would go to build a learning center on the campus of the Youth Homes, located in LaGrange, Georgia. This center would provide a workplace for the residents to study, a facility for counselors to meet with the residents to discuss their spiritual and emotional needs, and a time for the students to lay a foundation for a successful life. The facility was dedicated in 1999 after more than $100,000 was raised to construct the learning center.
During the 1999-2000 year, Key Clubbers set out on another commendable path to build a learning center for the female residents at the Georgia Sheriffs Youth Homes Cherokee Estates campus in Dalton, Georgia. In just five years, the Georgia District of Key Club Learning Center was dedicated after more than $115,000 was raised for the project that was known as “Ben’s Dream”.
The 2005-2006 Georgia District Board, when deciding on the next goal for the Youth Homes, realized that each of the campuses had a place for residents to go to fulfill their spiritual needs- every campus except one. It was decided that the next project would be called the “Essential Piece” as the District set out to build a chapel at the Pineland campus of the Georgia Sheriffs Youth Homes. Through the help of Key Clubs from around the state, the Georgia District broke numerous fundraising records and was able to complete the project in just 3 years. The Georgia District of Key Club chapel was dedicated in 2007, answering the call once again for the Youth Homes.
In 2009, the District Board received word that the residents at the Pineland campus of the youth homes had outgrown their current learning center- the same one that Key Clubbers built more than 15 years prior to that time. It was decided that the Georgia District would continue “Living the Legacy” and take on the challenge of raising $150,000 to expand the learning center so that each resident would have the same opportunities to succeed in life as each and every member of our organization. The Georgia District finally reached the goal and ended the “March to 150” by surpassing the goal of $25,000 and raising $60,000 during the 2013 – 2014 year. This remarkable achievement once again proved that nothing is too ambitious for the Mighty Georgia District. The Pineland campus Education Center expansion was finished with the funds raised by Key Club members.
In 2015, the Georgia District set out to build an Education Center in the Mountainview campus in Chatsworth, Georgia – a campus that sits among the beautiful north Georgia mountains but currently only has one cottage for boys. Th project was dubbed “The Foundation for Education” – and the $120,000 needed for the center was raised and completed in just three years – and concluded at the 2017 Georgia District Convention.
Now, the next chapter has been started – with the Key Club Wellness Pavilion at the Boys Ranch in Hahira, Ga. that will meet a dire need to have a location for the residents to receive counseling and to have supervised visits with family member and friends. In addition, this project will provide an outlet for recreational activities by building a new fishing dock and refurbishing an existing fishing dock. A financial goal of $44,500 has been pledged to build this project – and Key Club members in the state of Georgia will once again answer the call.