"Mr. Johnny" wasn't ready to adopt, so...

Johnny Jennings of Chattanooga, Tennessee, is 86 years old. When he was only 18, he visited the Georgia Baptist Home for Children. A child ran up and begged to be adopted. "When we went to leave," he remembers, "three little boys grabbed me by the knees and said, 'Will you be my daddy?'" He wasn't ready to adopt, but he helped them in another way. Over the past 32 years, he collected 9 million pounds of waste paper and sold it to the Chattanooga Recycle Center for over $400,000. He's also collected $20,000 in pennies, or about 24 miles of copper coins.

                                                                                                                           Shay Drennan-Love
How does he get so much paper? At first he had to collect it, but now that people know about his project, they bring it to him after collecting it from churches and other organizations. Jennings has served on the board of the Children's Home for 20 years. "I'm just part of the family," he says. The home's president, Dr. Kenneth Thompson, says Johnny is "one of the most gracious individuals I have ever met." To learn more about the home, or donate, visit http://www.gbchfm.org/