Board member Lendon Gibbs took a different route to service with GSYH. He remembers watching a television announcement in the 1950s about Boys Ranch, the first campus. “I thought, ‘that’s neat,’” he says. Eventually, as in-house counsel for Georgia Power, he was approached by his company to see if he would be willing to serve on the GSYH Board of Directors, and he agreed.
“I have been amazed at the work they’ve been able to do in the lives of these children,” he says, and adds, “they have been able to make a positive impact over the years for many, many young people, and I’m so proud of that!”
He gets emotional when he thinks of the changed lives for Georgia’s children. “I love them all, every one of them. The impact on their lives from what they have received will be felt years later. It will serve them well, and not just them, but
their children and grandchildren, and for many generations to come.”
Growing up in south Georgia, he likens the impact of the GSYH to that of a tree. “I think of it like a magnolia spreading out and blossoming, sending out seeds. The Youth Homes are like that. It’s a multiplication principle, a change in the system. All of a sudden you realize the secondary impact to future generations.”
“These children,” he continues, “they don’t know what they can accomplish. There’s so much they were not exposed to. Then, when they come to us, all of a sudden they realize ‘I can do something.’” He is particularly proud of the staff, who, he says, are concerned for each child. “I’ve found that the people in the Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes love the work they do. They have done a wonderful job of helping these children change the direction of their lives, make a course correction. I’m so
proud to be involved in all of that.”