Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky is the Pied Piper of his time.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

PHILADELPHIA _ Who will take in the strays?

Who'll tend to the forgotten? Who will open their door to the throwaways, the runaways, the ones squarely in harm's way?

Those are the questions we'd rather not hear, aren't they? The ones that make us avert our eyes, squirm in our seats, wish desperately we were somewhere else.

For almost 20 years now, whenever a hand has been raised to volunteer in answer to those unsettling questions, it has belonged to Jerry Sandusky and his wife, Dottie.

They have adopted and raised six children. They started and nurtured The Second Mile, which began as a foster home and has grown to eight different programs that provide for more than 100,000 children who share this commonality _ they are considered to be at risk, which is a chilling term that means their souls will drown if someone doesn't throw them a lifeline.

Jerry Sandusky, by the way, is a football coach.

It is the least important …