EXPERIENCE AS FAR AS LEARNING JOB SKILLS AND SOCIAL SKILLS. }
OUR GOAL IS TO GET 100 PERCENT OF THEM WORKING IN THE COMMUNITY
BECAUSE WE WANT TO GIVE THEM A MORE NORMAL
} as a 15-year-old experiencing domestic
turmoil.
“If this place didn’t exist, I don’t know
where I’d be today,” he says.
He was passionate about the organiza-tion
that had saved his life and returned
after college in 1972 to take on a number
of roles, including director of social ser-vices,
educational coordinator, associate
campus director, civic club coordinator,
director of planned giving, and director of
development.
Faircloth moved to Michigan in 1988
to serve as vice president of a similar orga-nization,
but came home 10 years later
to become the president and CEO. His
unofficial duties include serving as a role
model.
“He’s been there and done that,” says
Doreen Williams, director of the houses for
teen mothers. “We can look at him and we
can tell the kids if he’s successful, they can
do it too.”
Williams is not a former resident, but
typifies the caring staff, some of whom
have been at Lake Waccamaw for more
than three decades.
“It’s a calling. It’s not just work,”
Williams says. “Charles Stanley wrote a
book called ‘The Glorious Journey.’ He
said when you find your niche, it’s no lon-ger
a job, it’s what you love to do. For me,
it’s what I love to do. It’s not just getting
up in the morning and coming to a job. It’s
always something new. We’re always look-ing
for new ways to evolve.”
The housing for teen moms opened five
years ago. The babies either stay on cam-pus
or are in day care while their mothers
attend school or work.
One current resident graduated from
Thomas Academy in 2017, became a certi-fied
nursing assistant, and is going to col-lege
to become a registered nurse.
“With being in college and having
homework, being able to stay here really
helps,” she says. “They provide transporta-tion.
They are active in my school life. If I
need something, they make sure I get it. It’s
really nice to have someone that supports
you.”
Williams loves to hear those stories.
“It’s breaking the cycle,” she says. “It’s
teaching these young ladies to take the next
journey of their life, that they can be suc-cessful
in life.”
That sums up the mission of Boys and
Girls Homes. The organization provides a
safe and nurturing environment that takes
children from hopeless situations and gives
them hope for the future.
“I share with the kids a reggae song: ‘The
caterpillar sheds his skin to find a butterfly
within.’ And I think that’s perfect because
we get all these caterpillars that come to
us and over a period of time begin to shed
that outer skin and they begin to find
their butterfly,” Simmons says. “It really is
amazing to watch it happen.”
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