The time has come……

When I began this journey and set up The Circle G Foundation in August 2010 I had a dream to save Elvis’s Circle G Ranch and have his time there commemorated and celebrated and to continue his charitable and humanitarian legacy.  Over the last 15 years there have been highs and lows but we have always held true to that dream and are very proud of what we have achieved.

With your help and support we have raised the profile of the ranch around the world, raised thousands of pounds for charity (all given in Elvis’ name) and the highlight came on 8th September 2021 when we erected a Mississippi State Historic Marker at the ranch….the first Mississippi State Marker to be funded internationally. That means Elvis’ time at the ranch has been recognised and officially commemorated.

In 2013 we thought our dream of securing the future of Elvis’ Circle G ranch had been realised when HL3 bought the property.  Sadly that has not been the case and as we have documented here on our social media and on our website, they have and continue to neglect the ranch and in turn Elvis’ legacy. All they have done is make empty promises and talk of ‘plans’ that never come to fruition.

Over the years we, The Circle G Foundation, have brought numerous ‘interested’ parties to the table with a view to either working with HL3 or purchasing the ranch from them. In either case the objective, as always, was to secure the ranch’s future.  In all these cases because of the intransigence of the owners (not all – but the majority of them) these interested parties have either lost interest or refused to deal with HL3 because of their attitude or lack of communication and recently the person who has acted as our ‘boots on the ground contact’ regarding communication with the Florida based owners has resigned due to his frustration with them.

So now in 2025 we have had no option but to take stock.

HL3 continue to be difficult to deal with and when they do come up with a figure they would be looking at to sell the ranch it is totally ridiculous…..as of June this year the minimum they want is $10million USD…..good luck with that! 

They continue to speak of ‘plans for development’ but will not share even the smallest detail with us. Some members of the HL3 team seem to regard The Circle G Foundation as an adversary rather than an organisation that just wants the best for the ranch and Elvis legacy…..we could have been their greatest ally if they had just worked with us.

We have also had quite a blow regarding our annual charitable fundraising activities.  This year we had organised an amazing two day Elvis event here in the U.K. but due to lack of support in the form of very poor ticket sales and other circumstances completely out of our control, we had to cancel the event. We did try to raise some funds to help us pay the balance for the venue, and although we had some amazing initial donations in the first week, the rest of the time…….tumbleweed. If you only knew how soul destroying that is! Only 11 tickets had been sold by the end of June! In anyone’s language that is pretty indicative of a lack of interest despite us working really hard to publicise the event both inside and outside the Elvis world. 

The money raised via the Just Giving page will be donated to charity in Elvis’ name as a final gesture by The Circle G Foundation to honour Elvis’ charitable and humanitarian legacy.

The plain facts are these…..if we are no nearer saving the ranch than we were in 2010 and we cannot get enough support to hold just one fundraising event a year for a nominated charity….,then The Circle G Foundation is simply not viable. 

This has hit us hard and on a personal note I have had to take time off work due to the stress this has put me under.

So the time has come, after a great deal of agonising, to say goodbye and it is with a heavy heart that we are announcing that The Circle G Foundation is closing its doors.

We will leave our Facebook active until the end of August and our Just Giving page will remain open until Elvis Week 2025 at which time monies donated will be given to charity in Elvis’ name and details posted on the Facebook page and website before they are closed.  Depending on the amount that is donated we will either split it into two and give to the two nominated Music Therapy charities or if we believe there isn’t sufficient to make a reasonable donation to them then the money will go to The Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation.

In closing, I would like to thank all of you for your support over the years. To the CGF team members who have been there constantly with their support and encouragement (you know who you are), thank you, you are my life long friends. I want to give a special shout out to Jac and Sharon on the Management team and Rick and Carrie two of our Ambassadors, you are wonderful people and I thank God and Elvis for bringing us together. We’ve had some really great times, hosted many successful events both here and in the USA; given talks to fans in Denmark and Australia and with your help.. sent some beautiful floral tributes to Graceland for Elvis Weeks and Birthday week over the years.

I also have to give a mention to my late husband Jim who put up with so much in supporting my fight to save the ranch and ended up loving the place as much as I do.  You have all kept me going through some hard times and I am very thankful for that but at the moment I feel personally defeated and burnt out. On that day back in August 2010 I promised Elvis I would do all I could to save the ranch and I can say, hand on heart, I have done all I can; if at some point in the future someone else steps in then I wish them all the success in the world.  I may not have won a gold medal in the race to save the ranch but I hope people will say I deserve an A for effort. When I agonised over this decision I initially felt like I was letting Elvis down but having given it so much thought I believe he’d understand, I think he would.

Thank you for playing your part as we fought to make our dream come true. The Circle G Ranch will always hold a piece of my heart and if and when someone steps in to save it, no one will be more pleased than me.

Thank you again and thank you for loving Elvis. 

Lesley x