Pulaski County Sheriff Wayne Wiley (left) and Bleckley County Sheriff Daniel Cape (right) present Mike Leathers (center) of the Georgia Sheriffs' Youth Homes with $23,000 raised during the sheriffs' second annual joint charity golf tournament at Southern Hills Golf Club. (Photo: The Rundown, Inc.)

HAWKINSVILLE, Ga. — The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office and the Bleckley County Sheriff’s Office raised $23,000 for the Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes. The funds came from their second annual joint golf tournament, held June 4 at Southern Hills Golf Club.

Sheriff Wayne Wiley of Pulaski County and Sheriff Daniel Cape of Bleckley County presented the funds to Mike Leathers on June 16. Leathers is a representative of the Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes.

26 Teams Tee Off for a Cause

Twenty-six teams competed in the tournament. The event combined a day of golf with fellowship, food, and community support for a cause sheriffs’ offices across Georgia have backed for decades.

Several area sheriffs attended in support of the event, in addition to Wiley and Cape. They included Sheriff Craig Peavy of Dooly County, Sheriff Matt Moulton of Houston County, and Sheriff Brian Robinson of Dodge County.

Southern Hills Golf Club hosted the tournament. Matt Dunaway and Buster Clark assisted in preparations and provided access to the course. Sgt. Austin Carver and Capt. Chris White of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office prepared a meal for participants during the event.

Sheriffs across Georgia founded the Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes more than 60 years ago. They created the program to care for children who have experienced abandonment, neglect, or abuse. The program places children in a family setting, where full-time houseparents live alongside them in cottages. Houseparents provide food, clothing, and a stable home environment. The program also offers academic and recreational opportunities, along with spiritual, physical, and emotional counseling tailored to each child’s needs.

Children may arrive individually or as sibling groups. The program requires all residents to attend school and graduate high school. Residents may also continue on to college, with the Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes Foundation funding their tuition. Beyond the basics, the program helps children overcome adversity. It also builds skills in teamwork, personal responsibility, and respect for authority, alongside moral and spiritual development.

The Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes operates five locations across the state. They include Herrington Homestead in Nunez (Emanuel County); Boys Ranch in Hahira (Lowndes County), the program’s oldest facility, established in 1960; Cherokee Estate north of Dalton (Whitfield County); Mountain View in Chatsworth (Murray County); and Pineland in LaGrange (Troup County).