Kathy difiore biography

Meet Kathy DiFiore, Founder & President Emerita of the Several Sources Shelters.
Kathy DiFiore.
Ms.

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Kathy Difiore gives shelter to unwed mothers

In the 1980s, Kathy Difiore turned her home into a pregnancy shelter for unwed mothers. When the need grew, she opened three more residential shelters in New Jersey. Her heroism has been brought to the national forefront by a new movie called Gimme Shelter (release date January 2014)—a touching pro-life film about how Kathy’s shelter gave Apple, a down-and-out teenage mom, hope.

What compelled you to open your home to strangers?

I went through a difficult divorce and found myself homeless for a while. I prayed the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, and I discovered that the only time that I felt peace in my heart, mind, and soul was when I prayed that prayer. Then I studied the life of St. Francis and saw that he lived his faith. “When I was homeless, you took me in, when I was hungry, you fed me, when I was in prison, you visited me.” I decided that once I got back on my feet, I was going to try to do that.

How did you first pregnancy shelter begin?

I took an ad out in a local paper “Pregnant?

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Meet Kathy DiFiore, Founder & President Emerita of the Several Sources Shelters. Kathy Received her Undergraduate Degree in Psychology from the University of Rochester and in 1979, she received her MBA from NYU and is currently studying for her doctorate in Education at the University of Phoenix online.

* 1970 to 1979 – Member of the NY State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Committee. Her business career included holding the position of Personnel Director, American Express, Credit Card Division and Personnel Director at Degussa Chemicals Corporation.

* 1981 – Kathy decided to turn her own home into a shelter for mothers and their babies. As the demand for her help for pregnant women grew, Kathy made a decision to leave the corporate world and devote herself full-time to helping mothers and babies. She now operates four residential shelters in New Jersey, a national hotline 1-800-662-2678, and “Our Gift of Hope” mobile sonogram center in Englewood, NJ.

* 1984 – Kathy met with St. Teresa of Calcutta on several occasions an

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Kathy DiFiore is the founder of Several Sources shelters in New Jersey, a network of four residential shelters for homeless teenage mothers and one daytime shelter for homeless and abused women. She also operates a 24-hour national hotline (1-800-662-2678) and five informative websites which receive about a million visitors a year.

Ms. DiFiore started her work in 1981, when she turned her own home into a shelter for unwed teenage mothers and their babies after recovering herself from an abusive marriage and period of homelessness. She has an undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Rochester (1969), an MBA from NYU (1979), and is currently studying for her doctorate in education. Encouraged in her work by a friendship with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, she was recognized at the White House by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. From 1970 to 1978, she was a member of the New York State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Committee.

In the 2014 movie “Gimme Shelter,” DiFiore was portrayed by actress Ann Dowd. Filmed with real girls at DiFiore’s shelt