Georgia Home Helpers Franchisees Win 2026 IFA Award

Home Helpers Home Care franchisees Beth and Phillip Dow of Newnan, Georgia, have received the International Franchise Association’s 2026 Franchisee of the Year Award. The recognition comes as the couple approach two decades with the brand and extend their local care business into Canton, Georgia.

A second national award for the Newnan operators

The Dows were honoured during the IFA26 Advocacy Summit in Washington, DC, held from 14 to 16 September. Home Helpers announced the recognition on 29 September in a release subsequently published by Franchising.com.

According to the announcement, the award recognised their entrepreneurship, community outreach, workforce development and service to others. It is not their first such recognition: the couple also received the Franchisee of the Year honour in 2015.

That repeat recognition gives this story a longer perspective than a single year’s performance. The Dows are now in their 19th year with Home Helpers, with their 20th anniversary due in 2027. Their latest award therefore sits alongside an established operating history rather than marking the early stages of a new franchise business.

For the US franchise community, the announcement highlights a longstanding local operator whose recognition covers both business activity and service to people in its community. The release does not provide the detailed assessment behind the award, so the stated areas of recognition should not be read as a published scoring breakdown.

An established care operation in Georgia

Home Helpers reported that the Dows’ expanded team comprises 150 caregivers and 14 operations team members, serving 112 clients. The business supports older adults and others who need assistance to maintain their independence and dignity at home.

Those staffing and client figures offer a more concrete picture of the operation than the award alone. They describe a business with a substantial caregiving team supported by dedicated operational staff, although the announcement does not break down staffing or client numbers by location.

The company also said the Dows’ care organisation is projected to generate $4.5 million in revenue in 2026. That figure is a forecast, not a reported full-year result, and the announcement provides no profit figure or previous-year revenue comparison.

That distinction matters when assessing a franchise success story. Revenue gives an indication of business scale, but it does not establish profitability or the returns available to another franchisee. Likewise, the published staffing total does not specify working hours or employment arrangements, limiting the conclusions readers can draw about workforce capacity.

Canton opening extends the local footprint

Alongside the award, Home Helpers reported that the Dows had expanded into the Canton, Georgia, market by opening Home Helpers Home Care of Canton in August 2026.

The opening adds a new market to a business built through nearly two decades of service in Newnan. It is a completed expansion reported in the announcement, rather than an agreement for a location that has yet to open.

However, the release does not set out a separate revenue forecast, client total or staffing allocation for Canton. Nor does it give an investment figure for the new operation. The expansion can therefore be reported as an extension of the Dows’ footprint, without assuming its financial contribution or pace of growth.

Home Helpers was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Blue Ash, Ohio. Its franchise system provides in-home assistance intended to help seniors and other people who need support live independently in their own homes.

What prospective franchisees can take from the news

The Dows’ story brings together three distinct developments: repeat national recognition, a long-established care operation and a recently opened additional market. Together, they offer a useful example of an experienced franchisee continuing to develop a local business within a wider franchise system.

They do not, however, provide a template for another operator’s likely earnings or expansion timetable. Anyone evaluating a comparable opportunity would still need to examine local demand, staffing requirements, operating costs and the support available from the franchisor.

Practical takeaway: Treat awards as a starting point for research, not a substitute for due diligence. Distinguish projected revenue from achieved results, and ask for location-specific evidence when assessing an expanding care franchise.