NEWS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ROTARY CLUB OF GREENE & PUTNAM COUNTIES
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CONTACT: Laura Dent
706-347-1160
PHOTO CUTLINE: (L to R) Circle Ranch Executive Director, Jody Sandwick, Rotarian and Circle Ranch Board Member, Robbie McNeill
Circle Ranch Visits Rotary Club
(Greensboro, GA Oct 13. 2016) – Jody Sandwick, Executive Director of Circle Ranch, was the featured speaker at a recent Rotary Club meeting. She presented an overview of Circle Ranch and its mission.
In December of 2014, Circle Ranch was incorporated in Greene County and evolved from a desperate need for the children who have been abandoned or have suffered trauma and must be removed from their homes in their primary service area in Northeast rural Georgia. Their primary service area will be DFCS Region 5. The Counties within this service area are Barrow, Clarke, Elbert, Greene, Jackson, Jasper, Madison, Morgan, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Walton and Putnam.
The mission of Circle Ranch is to provide a loving Christ-centered family setting for children in need of a strong and stable family support system by providing a healthy environment where children are encouraged to develop spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, socially and physically enabling them to reach their full potential.
Today the state of Georgia and our community are experiencing many problems as is America as a whole: domestic violence in the home, single parent families, poverty, homelessness, teenage pregnancies, drug and alcohol abuse, school dropouts and thousands of children living with aging grandparents. According to DFCS, there are presently 1000 children from Region 5 in foster care. In the last few years, DFCS Region 5 has lost over 43% of its foster homes and 39% of the children who must be removed from their homes must be transported to facilities on the other side of the state where there is a vacancy.
Region 5 has only one private facility which houses 13 children. At present Greene County does not have any foster homes for these children. DFCS simply does not have enough options for alternative housing for children who are in need within our communities.
Sandwick stated, “Children who must be removed from their homes or are abandoned suffer great trauma because of circumstances not of their doing. When these children must be transported hundreds of miles away they must also leave their friends, change schools and adjust to a new family, thus adding even more trauma in their young life.”
Circle Ranch will be a working ranch. The children will help raise and care for animals and raise livestock to help teach them discipline, character, and responsibility. The children will live in traditional housing with loving house parents. Each home will be a family of encouragement and unconditional love. During a child’s stay at the ranch, they will be involved in academic, spiritual, physical, and counseling programs helping them to better prepare as they grown into adulthood.
Circle Ranch is presently in the funding stage to build the ranch. They have also begun a land search within their primary region that would be suitable for the ranch. If you would be interested in partnering with them in any way, please contact them at circleranch@windsteam.net
About Rotary
Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world’s most pressing humanitarian challenges. Rotary connects 1.2 million members of more than 35,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas. Their work improves lives at both the local and international levels, from helping families in need in their own communities. To learn more about the Greene and Putnam Club, comprised of local business leaders, please LIKE us on Facebook and visit our web site at: www.GreenePutnamRotary.org.
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