When Johnny Jennings of Ringgold, Georgia was 18, he made a life-changing visit to a Georgia Baptist children's home. Several children ran up to him and asked to be adopted. "That took my heart, right there," he says. While Jennings wasn't ready to adopt, he promised to do everything he could to help the home's young residents. A few decades later Jennings found a practical way to raise funds for the home—recycling. For the past 32 years Jennings, 86-years-old as of March 2017, has sold 810,063 pounds of paper, $20,275 worth of pennies, and countless pounds of recycled aluminum products. Over the years, he's given $400,000 to the home.

One of his friends told reporters, "Johnny normally loads his truck by himself, and that is a job in itself, and did I mention he is 86 years old and had two small strokes just two weeks ago?" But that didn't stop him from getting back to his paper route. When Jennings' got home from the hospital, he went right back to work. The friend continued, "That is just how he is, and he will not stop until the undertaker turns his toes up, that is what he tells everyone."

Jennings son said, "My dad doesn't see the $400,000. He sees the faces of those kids."