Fundraiser to benefit children in Sheriffs’ Youth Homes

ALBANY — Car, truck, street rod, motorcycle and every other kind of vehicle enthusiast from across the state will take to the highway June 4 for a caravan from the Agrirama in Tifton to the Georgia Sheriffs’ Boys Ranch in Hahira to raise money for displaced children.

The caravan will be part of the Kruzin’ for Kids fundraiser for Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes.

A classic car display, lunch and a brief ceremony are all part of the event.

Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes is a nonprofit child care organization sponsored by the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association and through the largess of private donors. Founded in 1956, GSYH serves more than 130 children in full-time care on five campuses across the state. Campuses are located in Dalton, Hahira, Swainsboro, Lagrange and Chatsworth.

“Back in the middle of the 1950s, some sheriffs got together and they had a vision for working with children that were abused, abandoned or neglected. The boys ranch at Hahira was built during that time and, of course, now the youth homes have been expanded around the state,” Dougherty County Sheriff Kevin Sproul said. “We’ve had so many success stories of kids who have graduated and gone on to college, gone into the military and some have actually come back to be house parents. They are investing their lives now into the next generation of children.”

The purpose of GSYH is to provide a safe, secure future for Georgia’s dependent, neglected and abused children. The homes provide long-term residential and short-term emergency care for boys and girls.

“Kids that are born into a family that has a mom and dad who are addicted to drugs and they abuse their children, those kids have nowhere to turn,” said Sproul. “They have no hope, basically for the future.”

According to Sproul, the sheriff of each Georgia county is responsible for sponsoring such children into the youth homes, which helps to provided them with the security and care they need to grow and prosper.

“To see these kids go from those environments to walking out of a high school auditorium with a diploma in their hand, it’s heart-wrenching,” said Sproul proudly. “Then to hear the kids come back and talk to the sheriffs and tell us how much they appreciate not only our support but our communities, which help generate the funds to help offset the costs and expenditures to put youngsters in these youth homes. It’s not cheap, it’s expensive.”

“This is more or less a second chance in life for these kids,” added Buddy Hollomon, a volunteer with GSYH since 1963.

The children housed with GSYH are typically between the ages of 6 and 16 and cannot be justice-involved or delinquent.

“These are not kids that have been adjudicated guilty, they are not gang-bangers or kids that parents just throw in a place to try to get rid of them,” said Sproul. “These are kids that have to be sponsored by the sheriffs of each county. They are kids that have been abandoned or neglected by their families. If a child is involved in an automobile accident, for example, and they are the only survivor with no relatives, they have nowhere to go. We have situations like that happen from time to time.”

Hollomon offers such a scenario.

“We had a child last year in Hahira that was only 9 months old,” he said.

According to Holloman, last year’s Kruzin’ for Kids raised more than $4,300. Officials hope to raise more this year. Anyone interested in participating in the event or who simply would like to make a donation can contact Hollomon at (229) 938-6696 or contact any sheriff’s office.