(PHOTOS) Country star Jimmy Wayne speaks of hardship, success at annual B&G Club breakfast event

CASPER, Wyo. — Many successful country music artists draw on their roots for inspiration.

Nashville singer–songwriter Jimmy Wayne takes it much further than most, mainly with his passionate advocacy work to help foster kids succeed.

One of Wayne’s first jobs out of college was as a prison guard. During his keynote speech at the 26th Annual Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming Awards & Recognition Breakfast on Wednesday morning, he described standing in the tower and recognizing many of his fellow foster kids as they were incarcerated.

“It would’ve been easy for me to judge them and say, ‘I made it, why couldn’t you?'” he said. He went on to explain that the difference was that he had the right adults intervening in his life at the right time.

His early childhood in North Carolina was spent living with a grandfather in a trailer park while his mom was in prison multiple times. He learned early how to make a bit of money, offering people to deliver their groceries or pick up and resell golf balls at the area golf course. When his mom was released, she married a violent criminal, who took the young man with him on crime sprees, even forcing him to reload the gun. The family fled in the darkness of night, living in an old Oldsmobile for days on the road. Wayne recalled the day his stepfather stopped and told him to get his things and leave the car. His mother was in tears outside, kissed him goodbye, got back in the car and drove off.

“And they never came back,” he said. “I was 13 years old, standing in this parking lot.”

He went back to North Carolina and bounced around the school and foster system until he aged out at 16, becoming homeless. He approached an older couple for work, and they hired him to mow their lawn. Eventually they took him in, cleaning him up, buying clothes and enrolling him back into school. Even before that, there were teachers who believed in him, and one in particular who urged him to write, which led to an eventual career in music, he said.

But without those people, there was no way he’d thrive.

“There are 30,000 kids who age out of foster care every year; many of them immediately become homeless right here in America,” he said, adding that programs like the Boys & Girls Club are essential for giving young people hope and guidance.

During the breakfast, Dan Cantine, founder of the 12-24 Club recovery program, was honored with the Mick & Suzie McMurry Cowboy Code Try Award.

Trudi Holthouse, the McMurrys’ daughter, was given the Distinguished Service Award.

Jase Bright, who was living in an orphanage in China before being adopted by a Casper family, was presented the Youth of the Year award.

The annual breakfast event raises money to help operating costs for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming. More information on the clubs and how to donate can be found here.