<div><p>Never let anyone tell you that a small gesture can't change the world, because Johnny Jennings is living proof that it can.</p><p>More than 30 years ago Johnny started collecting old cans and paper products to recycle. It was a way to bond with his son Brent, and put a little money in his savings account. By the time Brent was ready to buy a house, they had collected enough money to pay for his down payment.</p><p>But after Brent moved out Johnny didn't have a reason to keep collecting recycling. A trip to an orphanage run by the Georgia Baptist Children's Homes changed that, along with Johnny's life and his community.</p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/03/Charity3---Shay-Drennan-Love-1.jpg" srcset="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/03/Charity3---Shay-Drennan-Love-1_GH_content_550px.jpg 550w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/03/Charity3---Shay-Drennan-Love-1_GH_content_650px.jpg 650w" sizes="89vw" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>Shay Drennan-Love</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p><!-- [invalid-shortcode] --></p><p></p><p>As Johnny was heading out the door three young boys stopped him, asking if he would adopt them. Johnny couldn't, but he promised he would do anything to help them. </p><p>This led Johnny to start collecting recycling again. Over 30 years he's collected more than 9 million pounds of paper waste, along with aluminum and even pennies that he sets aside for charity. Once, Johnny donated 24 miles of pennies, worth over $20,000.</p><p>In total, the children's homes say Johnny has donated over $400,000 to them, and he's been named a trustee on their board. There's no telling how many orphans and troubled families he's helped over the years, but it's clear that he's made a lot of lives better.</p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/03/Charity2---Shay-Drennan-Love-3.jpg" srcset="https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/03/Charity2---Shay-Drennan-Love-3_GH_content_550px.jpg 550w, https://www.shared.com/content/images/2017/03/Charity2---Shay-Drennan-Love-3_GH_content_650px.jpg 650w" sizes="89vw" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>Shay Drennan-Love</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p><!-- [invalid-shortcode] --></p><p></p><p>The one thing more incredible that Johnny's generosity is his humbleness. If he had it his way, nobody would even know that he had donated such a huge amount of money.</p><p>"My dad doesn't see the $400,000. He sees the faces of those kids," Brent told <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/86-year-georgia-man-donates-400k-recycling-profits/story?id=45683977">ABC news</a>. </p><p>It took one of Johnny's longtime friends, Shay Drennan-Love, to push him into the spotlight. Every week for the past 12 years Johnny has collected the recycling from her business.</p><div><amp-facebook data-href="https://www.facebook.com/shay.drennanlove/posts/10210307312831458" layout="responsive" height="600" width="640"></amp-facebook></div><p>Last month she shared a Facebook post about Johnny, saying that Johnny's story "needs to be told," and that "our generation and the ones to follow could learn a lot from Mr. Jennings."</p><p><strong>Share this post if you think one person can change the world!</strong></p><p></p><p><!-- [invalid-shortcode] --></p></div>