Family medicine must return to its roots to once again be a robust counterculture that reforms medicine. Founded in 1969, family medicine was a response to the public’s need for primary care that was comprehensive, accessible, continuous and affordable. This need is just as important today. Significantly, primary care challenges have changed, and family medicine training programs must adapt. Residents must be taught to step out of their comfort zones and engage their communities to find innovative ways to care for indigent and rural populations. This will reenergize physicians as well as the speciality. The CARE Clinic, a free clinic in Fayetteville, N.C., is an example of such engagement. Open since 1993, the clinic has managed well over 100,000 medical and dental visits without charging a patient or billing a private or government insurance plan. Clinics like it also serve as learning experiences for medical students and residents and fan the embers of idealism that led to the founding of family medicine in 1969.