CHESTNUT MOUNTAIN - Comedian Jeff Foxworthy and former UGA athletics director Vince Dooley were among more than 500 people who gathered Sunday night to help a Chestnut Mountain home for troubled boys and girls in celebrated its 20th anniversary.
Eagle Ranch was the brainchild of Eddit Staub, a young Alabama man, who says he came to Gainesville on "blind faith" in 1982, seeking backing for what he describes as his calling.
Eagle Ranch grew out of 260 acres off Union Church Road and continues to grow - and has been home to 500 boys and girls. It currently serves 54 youngsters, 42 boys and 12 girls from 30 north Georgia counties and has given birth to similar operations in other parts of the country.
It started as a home for trouble boys, but facilities for girls were added a few years ago and it now has its own on-site school for grades 6-8.
Sunday night, Staub spoke about plans to build an on-site school for grades 1-9. The current school is housed in temporary trailer units. To date, Staub says $2.2 million of the $2.4 million needed for a permanent school has been raised. Keeping with Ranch policy, he said, construction for the school will not begin until the additional money needed is raised.
Two Eagle awards were given out Sunday night.
The first went to Robert and Nell Watt who Staub said were like a second set of parents when he first came to Hall County. The second went to Annette Ryan, a former mergers and acquisitions business consultant, who provides assistance to the Wings Initiative program at Eagle Ranch. She is also a former Eagle Ranch board member.
The Wings Initiative was established to help "birth" or retool other
children's homes throughout the country and beyond.
Tuesday
October 22nd, 2024
5:35PM
