Recycling started off as a lesson about healthy money habits that Johnny Jennings wanted to teach his son, Brent. Back in 1985, they started collecting and selling paper and putting the proceeds into a savings account. By the time Brent Jennings was old enough to go to buy his first house, he and his father had recycled so much paper and other waste, that he had enough money saved up for a down payment.
In fact, over the course of his last 32 years of recycling, Brent’s dad Johnny Jennings has earned nearly $400,000. That’s a lot of money by anyone’s standards and the work put into making it would certainly warrant the Jennings patriarch spending it on himself and his family, but that wasn’t the case: Johnny Jennings has given it all away.
After a heartbreaking meal with the orphans at Georgia Baptist Children's Homes & Family Ministries when Johnny was 18 years old, he pledged to help those children in anyway he could. And boy has he! The majority of the money he has made from recycling over the years has gone straight to Georgia’s children in need. A spokesperson from the home says that every year they can expect a check from Johnny for between $10,000 and $32,000, all from his recycling.
Johnny and his wife of 61 years, Gwendolyn
At 86-years-old, he shows no signs of slowing down - and says he hopes that his health keeps up so he can keep helping out. His message is simple: "If you've got it, give it away." When you think that Johnny has spent so much of his life not only saving the planet, but helping to save the inhabitants, well, this is a guy who’s just darn good for the world.
Read the full article from CNN here.
