Meet Ben McDaniel, Executive Director of the Barrow County Family Connection and resident of Barrow County, GA
Ben works hard on bringing organizations together to make Barrow County a better place. He is passionate about living each and every day to the fullest and is delighted to have made Barrow County his home.
We’d like to thank Ben very much for sitting down with us to discuss his experience in Barrow County.
Barrow County Links
I work with Barrow County Family Connection . So, with Family Connection, there’s one of us in every county and we’re a state funded position.
I think it started back in the 90s when Zell Miller was the Governor and he needed stats from a few different departments. They were basically working side by side in the same building but not talking to each other, so he created the Family Connection Partnership to bridge that gap.
Family Connection brings communities together to make sure resources are talking to each other.
We help build those relationships.
Externally, what people know us for is the Back 2 School Bash. We partner with local churches, including Bethlehem Church who are a huge contributor to the event, & give out bookbags to 1100+ kids every summer. We do a Youth conference and the Holiday Connection program around Christmas time.
Last year we were able to provide Christmas assistance for 1845 kids! It’s a total community effort.
We like to think at Family Connection, the Chamber of Commerce makes Barrow County a better place to work, we try to make Barrow County a better place to live.
We bring non-profits, local businesses, local churches and local governments together once a month at our collaborative meetings where we network, share resources, and develop Barrow County solutions to Barrow County problems.
These meetings are on the first Wednesday of every month and they bring non-profits, local government, local businesses and community leaders together. Anybody that has a heart for making Barrow County a better place is at those meetings. We have anywhere from 55 to 65 different people attend and we always feed you well!
Lynn Stephens who is on the Board of Education and on my board noticed that the churches were missing from these collaborative meetings. So, we reached out to bring them together.
We brought in 31 different churches and non-profit representatives and we made our way around the room and talked about what was happening for each of them and if this is something that they would like to continue.
They said yes and now we have collaborative meetings and faith based collaborative meetings where we rotate from church to church each month and talk about what’s happening in the community and with the churches. It similar to the collaborative meetings.
We network, share resources and talk about struggles and triumphs for our churches.
I don’t think there’s a ministerial alliance anymore in Barrow County, so this kind of serves as the one place where our preachers and our churches can come together to talk about things. And it’s been the most rewarding.
So that’s Family Connections. That’s what we do.
We have collaborative strategies that the group work on, and there’s data behind that. For this coming year we are working on decreased suicide and chronic absenteeism rates.
Background
I lived with my mom when I was young and I went to a total of 11 different schools growing up…I like to joke that we moved every time rent was due. In 6th grade, I went to live with my Dad and I left Winder-Barrow Middle School for West Jackson Middle School, I finally had stability from that point (insofar as not moving and not switching schools).
I went to Georgia Perimeter College for two and a half years and then transferred into the University of Georgia and majored in Recreation & Leisure studies which no longer exists.
I worked in Parks & Recreation for about seven years. I worked in Aiken, South Carolina, Jefferson, Oglethorpe County and Gainesville for a short stint. No disrespect to them, but it was in Gainesville that I realized that I was a bad cultural fit and God was moving me in a different direction.
That was the real pain point in my life.
At that point I became a voracious reader. I read, read, read.
My wife and I were talking about it and in the last two years, three things that have defined me is my relationship with Jesus, daily habits and reading. They are my happiness multipliers. I’ve always been positive and upbeat, and I like to think I bring the juice every day.
The difference now, as a 33-year-old with kids, is that I realize I’m not getting these days back. So, it’s about making the most out of every one of them.
I think of a Gary Vaynerchuk quote that goes something like – to heck with making the best days of your life. I’m just trying to squeeze every second out of every day. It’s all going to work out.
I’ve always wanted to be in Barrow County.
I’m a well-fitting square peg in a square hole here where I’m at now. I love Barrow County and I love what I do. It’s almost like I’m righting a lot of the wrongs of my childhood, being able to come back here, being able to contribute daily to making Barrow a better place and having my daughter attend one of the schools I attended.
What drives me is the idea of today, today, today.
The older I get, the more of a creature of habit I am. I get up at 5:00.
I watch the same news program from 5:00 -5:30.
I read from 5:30-6:30.
Then I go upstairs and pray from 6:30-7:00.
I used to run during that 6:00-7:00 hour but now I just do that on the weekends.
Those are the things I do every day so by the time I put my foot on the gas pedal and go to work…for the most part, I know it’s going to be a good day. I’ve already put the work in.
And that’s anchoring myself in Jesus. We all have negative parts of our personality, and for me I feel like my morning prayers just sand off the rough edges of the personality, the ego, the pride, but also the fear and insecurities that you’re not enough.
As a 33-year-old millennial, it’s not just about the fear of missing out, it’s the fear of being left behind, whether it be socially, professionally or whatever.
By anchoring myself in Jesus, I realize you’re going to be alright, it’s all going to work out.
The only thing you can control is today and the work you put in today. And that’s what I try to do, I put my faith in Jesus every day and follow him and be obedient. Obedience is a big part of that. Having the discipline to do what he asks I guess and trusting that it’s all going to work out.
Making Changes
When I look back on the most painful point in my life when I was in Gainesville, I felt like my employment was on the line and I was such a bad cultural fit for what they wanted. I was at that crossroads where I didn’t know where I was going.
I wrote down what I wanted out of life and what I no longer will tolerate. My wife and I still go back and revisit that list once a year. We talk about our values, strengths, and weaknesses and what I will and won’t tolerate for the upcoming year.
Barrow County checks all of the boxes.
I feel like they (Barrow County) get the best version of me every day. I’m not perfect, far from it and there are so many things I wish I could do better, but Barrow County and Family Connection gets the best version of me because of the pain in the past.
With journaling, it’s almost like I’m touching a nerve when I go back and read past entries and it makes me so full of gratitude to know where I’m at now. The biggest difference is that I’m content now.
I know the blessings coming. I feel them coming and I know bigger things are down the road.
I try not to look down the road too much. So much of my life and career, I’ve looked for work to validate me as a person. I put my wife and kids on the back burner whereas I really try to not do that now. I was looking for all of these things (awards, titles, positions) to fill a hole in my life and to validate me and say, here I made it.
Now the conversation with Jesus is totally different. It’s denying myself and following him. I try not to disrespect the blessing of today by focusing on tomorrow.
Inspiration
I’m big on podcasts and I’ve been listening to Tim Ferris for years and he recommended the book Ego is the Enemy, Ryan Holiday.
I think the work I’ve put into Family Connection and on a personal and professional level, as far as what inroads I’ve made in Barrow County, is reflected in my relationships with people. Genuinely putting other people first. And it all started with that book.
If I’m holding up the canvas for other people to paint on, it’s all going to work out. They are going to remember the guy that helped them get to wherever they want to go.
What would you like people to know about Barrow County?
With the recent SK Innovations development that came to Commerce, we were a finalist in getting that. I think it came down to Barrow County and Jackson County and Jackson ended up getting it.
When you’re a finalist for the biggest economic development project in the state of Georgia in recent memory, you’re officially a player in the game.
The Governor is now aware of Barrow County. We are economically viable for large projects.
The cool thing is all the potential that we have here. We have such good roots in this county with Fort Yargo, 316, & I-85. We have a diverse population and the right ingredients with our school system and we’re ready for this. I’m super proud of the folks here. We’re on the precipice of such great things!
The potential is here.
Barrow County Eats
You know I love all the restaurants we have here in Barrow County, but Speedy Burritos is like a hidden gem here. So underrated. We can get there and feed our family of five with $28.
Who would you like to nominate as the next Face of Barrow County?
Ellen Petree. Ellen is first class. And her husband Dr. Petree is first class as well.
They’re Barrow County through and through. She does a ton of outreach and partnership work between the school system and local businesses, grant writing and so much more. If I want anything to get done in Barrow County, Ellen’s got to be a part of it.
We hope you enjoyed learning about Ben and his story.
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