Will Porter is a big man, a strong man. He’s the kind of man you could find outdoors slinging hot asphalt or cutting trees or framing houses. He looks more comfortable in jeans and flannel than in the pin striped suit he wore Monday night at Yancey Baptist Association.

But he looks really at home at 5:30 a.m. in the kitchen making breakfast with his wife, Betty, for 8-10 kids who feel safe because Will and Betty are there for them at 5:30 in the morning. And at 10:30 at night and any other hour they need a loving shoulder or corrective word.

Will and Betty are child care workers, or resident counselors or “North Carolina Baptists On Site” at the Broyhill Home in Clyde. Broyhill is one of four residential campuses operated by Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina.

Will read from some notes about what he should say to thank people from Yancey Association for their support of the Children’s Homes and about how important the support of all North Carolina Baptists is for him and Betty to be able to serve children and fulfill their mission. He reminded them of the importance of the Thanksgiving Offering received by most churches in November.

I hadn’t seen Will in several years and was glad to hear a new chapter of the story. He struggled until he put down his notes and just started talking about one of the most recent of hundreds of children he and Betty have held the rope for in 20 years at Broyhill Home.

A 12-year-old boy came to them last year weighing 32 pounds. My children weighed 22-25 pounds on their first birthday. This boy had never been to school and was kept most of the time in a closet.

If his mother thought he had been unruly, she threatened him by saying she would put poison in his food. So he was afraid to eat the little food he did receive.

The only light and life he saw was when he lay with his nose and one eye pressed to the crack beneath the door.

When someone, somehow made this situation known to authorities, they took the boy—and his siblings—from the home and brought them into the care of Will and Betty Porter at BCH. Within a year, Will said, the boy had gained 24 pounds and seven inches in height.

Whether it was the 5:30 breakfast or the 24-hour love that saved these children and is giving them a chance to overcome their horrific beginning, you can decide. You’re the one helping to provide both.

Residential child care is not held in high favor in North Carolina social services circles. It is the placement of last resort in the budgets and minds of departments of social services. Social workers try first to keep children in the home or with relatives. Second choice is a foster family and a residential facility like Baptist Children’s Homes is third choice.

Mostly the issue is money. Counties don’t have it or they have to reserve limited funds for worst case scenarios, like the little boy in Will’s story. To keep Will and Betty and the other child care workers on the job at BCH takes some Baptist money.

Pass a plate for them in November. I know a real hungry boy who will be very grateful.