Bill Thompson, former President and emcee
BOYS & GIRLS HOMES OF NC
Former alumni browsing the many silent auction items.
Former Boys & Girls Homes alumni gathered for a photo including those standing left to right Christian Reviere, Lindsay Garner-McGraw, Garry Elliott, Curtis Powell and Tom Simmons. Seated left to right are Jerry Parrish, Jasmine Patrick and Randy Ward.
Whiteville Civitan Club members attended the gala. Their club was the first to support Boys & Girls Homes in 1954.
Members of the Gizeh Temple #162 Prince Hall Shriners speaking with Chief Residential Officer Erika Brown about the renovations to Lions Cottage.
Members of local Union Bank branches pose with BGHNC Human Resources Director Amanda Formyduval for a photo at the 70th gala.
LAKE WACCAMAW – 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.”
About 200 civic club members, business leaders, BGHNC alumni, BGHNC staff and area supporters attended the Nov. 2 event under wedding tents on the nonprofit’s Lake Waccamaw campus. Speaking about how the campus transitioned in the 1980s to add girls to campus housing, former President and the night’s emcee, 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, then they 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.”
Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina
Headquartered in Lake Waccamaw, NC since 1954, Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina has served more than 7,500 children as a not-for-profit, 501(c)3 agency. Its mission is to provide a comprehensive array of services for children and youth who have been removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect or other family challenges. BGHNC offers adoption, family and therapeutic foster care, Success Coach services to prevent children from coming into foster care, and free children’s therapy, as well as residential care on the campus at Lake Waccamaw. The campus features a SACS-accredited charter school with a middle and high school curriculum, vocational education, recreation facilities, farm, equine therapy and a chapel. BGHNC is nationally accredited by the Council on Accreditation. To learn more, please visit https://boysandgirlshomes.org/