Commissioners learn about Families 4 Families, approve construction of STEM Academy  

WARNER ROBINS — The Houston County Commissioners heard from Mary Perdue, wife of former Governor of Georgia Sonny Perdue, in Tuesday’s meeting. She spoke about Families 4 Families, a non-profit organization and child placing agency within the State of Georgia. 

“When my husband was governor, my main focus for our state and my initiative involved foster care within the state because foster care was something relatively ignored in our state,” she said. “At that point in time, it needed someone with a megaphone and a platform to raise awareness among those of us who are not necessarily familiar with the plight of foster children and foster care in this state.” 

Families 4 Families originated in 2017, founded by Wayne Noggle. The organization has offices in almost every region of the State of Georgia and will have full coverage in the state next year. 

Mary Perdue believes foster care is not something that the government can do well. She said it is because the people in the faith community have turned their backs on foster care. 

“What [Families 4 Families] endeavors to do is to pair churches within the local community with foster parents,” she said. “One goal is to help us support and keep foster parents, so that we end up with foster parents in the community who are involved and who have the support system surrounding them so that they are able to continue on the journey of fostering.” 

Mary Perdue mentioned families face unfortunate circumstances, including addiction, incarceration, broken families and single-parent households. She said people forget about these circumstances, and it affects the children. 

“What Families 4 Families does is to enlist the help in churches and their congregations to enable them to place children in a family that is a family of faith and has a support system to help them continue on that journey the best they can.” 

The Middle Georgia regions consist of 15 counties. Mary Perdue said the Middle Georgia region’s children are 2.09x more likely to come into foster care than those in the Atlanta-Metro area. 

“We feel like we are in an area where we have such a great quality of life where we may think that perhaps in Metro Atlanta that quality of life may not measure up to what we enjoy here in Houston County and surrounding counties,” she said. “That statistic tells us even in our area, there are children in need.” 

Commissioners expressed their admiration for Mary Perdue’s involvement in this organization. 

“I’ve always admired you as a person of great faith and have always admired your spiritual leadership and your love and compassion for others,” Commissioner Tal Talton said. “What you do and what you’ve done has definitely radiated through your kids, and it doesn’t stop there. It takes a village to raise a child and that’s exactly what you’re doing, and I appreciate your effort in supporting that.” 

Commissioner Gail Robinson thanked Mary Perdue for spreading awareness about foster care. 

“Thank you for all you have done for the children of the State of Georgia getting children safe and placed in loving homes and places that they can feel that they’re going to be taken care of,” she said. 

In new business, Commissioners approved a Memorandum of Agreement with the Houston County School District to build a STEM Academy, which will cost $5 million. 

“The investment will pay dividends in years to come which in return will hopefully produce more qualified applicants for our local workforce,” Talton said. “I think this facility will really provide a unique opportunity for Houston County’s strongest science, technology, engineering and math students to advance their skills,” Commissioner Mark Byrd said. 

The next Houston County Commissioner meeting will be held on Tuesday, Nov.4, at 9 a.m., located at the Houston County Courthouse. To see the full agenda of this meeting, go to www.houstoncountyga.gov/minutes/2025-10-21%20Department%20Head%20Copy3.pdf