EATONTON, Ga. – It took between five and six years since the vision first appeared to Jody Sandwick. The Lake Country area needed something to keep foster children closer to home.

Jody’s idea: a working ranch. More specifically, Circle Ranch, Inc. It was in 2014 that Circle Ranch, Inc. became a non-profit corporation; and later in 2015 it received IRS Public Charity Status.

Since then, it was seeking the means — more specifically the funds — to acquire enough land needed to make the dream of a ranch a reality. That dream was fulfilled in 2020 with the purchase of 62 acres on Old Union Point Road in Greene County. In the two years since, more work that was required passed by like a flood: surveying, annexation by the city of Greensboro, zoning, equipment acquisitions, water rights, and one huge anonymous donation to make the final $54,000 payment on the land.

One of the major chapters remaining is construction of Circle Ranch at Bonnie Glen. Mike and Kathy Rainey hosted their latest Songwriters Night at Briarpatch Farms last Saturday with all net proceeds going to Jody’s project. This ranch will serve a 13-county area including Greene, Morgan, Clarke, Oconee, Putnam, Jasper, Newton, Walton, Elbert, Jackson, Madison, Barrow and Oglethorpe counties.

Jody Sandwick is the executive director of Circle Ranch, Inc.

“It is going to be a non-denominational, Christ-centered, working ranch and living facility for kids in need,” she said. “We have purchased 62 acres by the airport, and we have approval to build eight homes over there. We have just filed for a large grant ($750,000), and if that comes through we’ll start after the first of the year. It’s exciting.

“We are going to build a working ranch for foster kids. We have a lot of foster kids in this 13-county rural area, and they have no place to go. It will be a living facility for them. They help take care of the animals and the agriculture, and learn to give back to the community.

“There’s just no housing for them. It’s taken quite a while, but it’s coming. Very close right now.

“We looked at about 40 or 50 pieces of land to try to find the right property. We needed an eight-inch water line. Did you ever try to find a farm with an eight-inch water line. That doesn’t happen around here. Everything’s on a well. There happened to be 62 acres of an old farm over by NIBCO.”

The Raineys have worked with Jody since she started the project. She has a hard-working board of directors with 11 people out raising money.

“This is so needed,” said Jody. “In 2015, in this 13-county rural area we had 672 kids in foster care. Today, there is over 1,200. They have lost 50 percent of their foster homes. So these kids are taken out of their homes for many different reasons. They put them in Rome, Savannah, all over the place, any that has a vacancy. This is much needed.”

For more information, go to www.circleranch.org, email circleranch@windstream.net or call 7-6-467-0004 or 706-817-1557.