Marveling at the legacy of Boys & Girls Homes caring for more than 7,500 children in 70 years, Marc Murphy, President and CEO of BGHNC, said, "Look what a simple spark of imagination has brought to our little part of the world in North Carolina."

Attending the Nov. 2 event under wedding tents on our Lake Waccamaw campus were about 200 civic club members, business leaders, BGHNC alumni, BGHNC staff and area supporters of our longstanding nonprofit. Speaking about how the campus transitioned in the 1980s to add girls to campus housing, former President and emcee for the night Bill Thompson recalled how past leaders navigated that move.

Thompson remembered one of the leaders asking: "You know isn't that gonna be a tough thing to do, putting girls and boys on the same campus? And then the president back then said: 'well it won't make any more difference than anywhere else.' Then the leader asked: well what if you put up a fence? The president said: 'We'll have to keep fixing fences.' But it's worked out really well," he said. "Marc mentioned all the other programs we've had through the ages because people cared. I think that's something that's unique. That's the characteristic of my South."

Alumni Jerry Parrish spoke about how BGHNC changed his life.

"I remained at the home until I graduated high school and had an opportunity to go back home and I did not do that. I came as a drop-out and I left a high school graduate, the first one in my family to do that," he said. "The home provided me a warm place to stay, an education, and a wonderful and religious experience. I was baptized in that lake over there. The most important thing I was given was their friendship and love."

Two current residential youth played and sang songs for the audience. Their Teaching Parent, Lindsay Garner-McGraw, held the microphone while they sang and received standing ovations from the audience. 

BGHNC alumni Lindsay Garner-McGraw became a Teaching Parent with BGHNC inspired by the folks who helped her when she was a child. 

"When I came here, I thought I was unlovable because of the behaviors I had back then and what had happened to me," she said. "Getting to work with an organization that changed my life is a dream come true. Coming back here felt like coming back home. So much of who I am is because of my time here. They pushed me in a different direction than the direction I had come from."