Project helps open host homes to homeless teens

NORTH BERWICK, Maine (AP) — When Ginny and Walker Cole heard that the Ryan Home Project for homeless teenagers was seeking host homes, they were intrigued. Their children are long grown and raising families of their own, and "we had a lovely extra bedroom," said Ginny.

"We talked a lot about it," she said. "We thought, if we can help just one child, it would be a wonderful feeling."

Meanwhile, Dante Welch, at 16, was living precariously with his mother. Sometimes there was an apartment, said Ryan Home president Susan Austin, sometimes there wasn't. At one point, the two were living in a car, she said. "He was coming to school tired. It was a tough situation," she said. Would he consider moving in with the Coles, she asked him.