While waiting in a dentist’s office not so long ago I chanced upon (“chanced upon,” is that literary, or what!) an issue of “Our State” magazine.

A feature in this January ’16 issue caught my eye: “Sanctuary by the Shore.”

Written by Susan Stafford Kelly, a contributing editor of the magazine, it was about Boys & Girls Homes of North Carolina.

Well, now. The memories came back again. You see, back in 1965 I was a counselor at Boys Home nestled right by Lake Waccamaw.

It was here that I brought my new bride, and where we began our life together.

In the article I read where the current President and CEO of Boys & Girls Homes of North Carolina is Gary Faircloth. Now, some years ago the girls component, and an additional campus in another location, were added, hence the name change.

But back in ’65 there was just the Boys Home, by the lake, and young Gary Faircloth was one of the boys who lived there.

I remember Gary as a very nice looking late teen, very mature, who exerted a positive influence, especially upon the younger boys. I remember him as a very nice person.

The piece in the magazine told of how Gary graduated from East Carolina University in 1972, and eventually found his way back “home.”

Gary was three years old when his father left the family, and “By 15, Faircloth was living with his mother — on her $87 monthly welfare check — in a one-room house with no plumbing or heat. ‘I was a street kid … Had been picked up for shoplifting things like shoes, missed 110 days of school.’”

Then he went to visit his brother Ron, who lived at Boys Home. He asked could he stay. Gary said, “I’m probably the only kid who’s actually ever run away from home to come here.”

And so began a new life for Gary Faircloth.

This is a good story. A really good story.

And over these years, I’m sure it is just one of many such stories about those whose new lives began at Boys Home.

When you feel tempted to go along with the prevailing sentiments of far too many today who think our country is not a good place any longer, then consider all those from around the world who strive to come here and live.

And think of places such as Boys & Girls Homes of North Carolina.