Amid a chorus of children shouting "Me, me!," Fayette County coordinator for emergency services, Capt. Pete Nelms waved a tiny wrapped gift before nine youngsters staying at the Asden Johnson Youth Protection Home. It seems Christmas came about a week early here.

Chosen to open the gift, the only little boy at the home, age 9, revealed a remote control. "To what?" the children asked their spectators.

Newly mounted to the back of the home's roof, a satellite dish bringing forth 40 channels was given to the children by the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

Fayette County fire fighter and paramedic Carson Sanders came up with the idea as the department considered various ways they could help youth in the area. Capt. Nelms had learned that the home, located in Brooks, does not have access to a television cable system.

So as a opposed to giving each child a gift, they decided to give the home a permanent one along with a year's worth of satellite service. The extra money collected, all from men and women within the department, was donated to benefit the family of a fellow fireman who died last just three days before.

And as the children crowd around the television, Fayetteville resident Asden Johnson, the home's namesake, looks on smiling, knowing yet another wish of these underprivileged children has been fulfilled.

"These children come from houses of abuse, neglect and drugs," said Johnson, who is on the board of the Fayette Youth Protection Home, Inc. "Here they try to help a child's body, soul and spirit. They are nurtured. They see this is the way it can be."

The home has five bedrooms, each with a bathroom, a living room, dining area, kitchen, full basement, tutoring and computer room, and a laundry room.

The children's home received yet another Christmas gift on Friday, when the Fayette County Board of Realtors presented a check to benefit the home for over $10,000 the money raised from the annual Noel November, where trees and wreaths are auctioned.

Johnson and her husband have lived in Fayetteville for the last 16 years and have attended Fayetteville First United Methodist Church, where they both are in leadership roles.

Johnson said she began volunteering in college with her sorority who had a "philanthropic endeavor." She went on to work with children with downs-syndrome and later volunteered at a school for children with learning disabilities. She has also worked with United Way for 10 years and has been working with the Youth Protection Home, Inc. since 1989.

In 1990, she helped open a thrift store, located on Ga. Highway 85 beside Big Lots, which raises money for the Fayette County Council on Domestic Violence and for both the Jim Friday Home and Johnson Home. So far, the thrift store has generated more than $630,000.