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Your look
is classic;
Your smile
should be timeless.
©2012 Carolinas Oral and Facial Surgery Center
DENTAL IMPLANTS GIVE YOUR SMILE A NATURAL LOOK AND FEEL.
A stable presence in the medical and dental community since 1975, Carolinas Oral & Facial Surgery
Center (COFSC)/The Dental Implant Center performs more than 500 dental implants each year.
Call for an appointment or ask your dentist for a referral.
Ronald D. Gaitros, DDS, MS
Michael C. Kinnebrew, MD, DDS
Mark E. Bufalini, DMD, MD
1122 Medical Center Dr. Wilmington, NC 28401
910.762.2618 800.638.9019 www.carolina-surgery.com
112142 cofsc fotc classic.indd 1 6/20/12 11:39 AM
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
“I had money and I was never happy.
I lived the life of a rich man, I was never
happy. You can be poor and be happy.”
Allen had it all: a beautiful wife, a
daughter, a house, two cars, two
motorcycles, a boat, and a lot of money.
But within a few years he slipped back
into familiar habits and traded every-thing
for cocaine.
It wasn’t long before he was back
where it all started, on the side streets of
Georgetown, digging for food in trashcans
and looking for the next needle.
“Life is about choices. Every choice we
make has consequences,” Allen says.
From an early age, hardly anyone cared
for or even acknowledged Allen’s exis-tence,
and he came to learn, among other
things, one harsh truth — that those in
need of the most help are often neglected
and left to their own devices.
It’s difficult to imagine Allen in these
circumstances as he prepares food alone
for the homeless, sometimes upward
of 200 men, women and children at a
time. He often wears a freshly pressed,
white buttoned-down shirt tucked into
gray slacks. The only evidence pointing
to another life are the baggy pants and
loose white short-sleeved shirt he’s cho-sen
to wear today; that and the tattoos
on each of his forearms, which become
more apparent as he washes his hands and
checks the time on his wristwatch.
It’s shortly after 3 a.m. at Early Bread,
a Christ-centered ministry located in a
one-floor building as humble as the
tenants of its own religion. Nametags
of other volunteers (some recovering
drug addicts who have come and gone)
from various denominations pepper wall-to-
wall, red-checkered window curtains.
The names hang like silent witnesses to
the ministry here.