By Margaret Landers

mlanders@mdjonline.com

MARIETTA - Six Georgia youths are bicycling across nine states in 19 days to help parents keep their children out of trouble.

Nathaniel M., Dustin R., Mac M., Chad H., Sam E. and Reef H. are enrolled at Paul Anderson Youth Home in Vidalia. The goal of the home is to "help families so we don't need jails or youth homes," said Drew Read, CEO of the Paul Anderson Youth Home.

The six young men have troubled pasts and faced jail time, but turned their lives around by staying at the home, said Brittany Thoms, a spokesperson for Paul Anderson Ministries.

Chad H., who went to Walton High School, said boys are offered a chance to go on the bike ride "based on how well they are doing in the program." They trained before the bike ride, but had not covered as many miles as they will in the next few weeks, Chad says. The ride will take the boys from Georgia to Nebraska.

Chad said he has learned a lot from his time at the Youth Home, including: "You can't do drugs and live a normal life. You've got to listen to what your parents say."

Chad said he is most excited about going places he's never been before, and facing the challenges of "knowing that there's a lot of miles to cover and the heat. It's going to be fun."

The boys stopped at the Dwarf House in Atlanta for a send-off. On July 14 the group rode on the Silver Comet Trail, joined by friends and family.

The group stops every night and promotes the youth home's program, FamilyStrong.

The riders support the FamilyStrong effort - "to make parent a verb" - and are trying to get "10,000 families to say they will make the pledge and change at least one thing about their parenting." According to the FamilyStrong website, the pledge is a "simple, 4-step pledge with a different focus for each week of the next month. We believe making this one-month investment can change the direction of your family, your children, and our country."

Read says part of the goal of the FamilyStrong movement is to "help families before a crisis." They offer free resources so the families who take the Parenting Pledge "can be better equipped as parents."

Paul Anderson started the 1,500-mile tradition to promote his idea for the Youth Home, Read said. In honor of the 50th anniversary of that trip, the group this year is "casting a vision for the next 50 years," he says.

Anderson, the "World's Strongest Man" who broke a Guinness World record and won the Olympic gold for weightlifting in 1956, cycled from Vidalia to Father Flanagan's Boy's Town near Omaha in 1961. Anderson stopped at the Dwarf House with a bike issue, according to Read, and Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-A, told Anderson he "looked like an elephant on a bicycle." During this trip, Chick-fil-A became the first contributor to the Paul Anderson Youth Home, donating $25.

According to the website, the Paul Anderson Home provides "an alternative to incarceration for at-risk youth."

On the bike ride website, there is a live progress tracker, profile for each rider and ways to donate to the Paul Anderson Youth Home. For more information, visit www.FamilyStrong.com or www.payhbikeride.com.