  Denison
Herald
February 17, 1985 FORMER DENISONIAN HELPS HOMELESS by Donna Hunt, Editor Devout Roman Catholic upbringing in Denison has led a former Denisonian into a life of helping others in the Houston area. Rose Mary Badami was born in Denison, daughter of second generation Italian-Americans. During the Depression the family moved to Houston, where her father became a salesman. When she was a young college senior, she went to work in a home for delinquent girls and her life hasn't been the same since. She told a Houston reporter she saw a part of life in that home that she had only read about in sociology books. Life there was so different from the life Rose Mary, now 55, had experienced with her loving family, that she felt compelled to do something to help these young women. That was in 1954 and for the last 39 years she has devoted her life in helping society's castoffs. While so many people may have thoughts of helping others, Ms. Badami has actually done something about it without thought of gain for herself. Money has never been important to her and she lives modestly in Houston in the house she and her parents shared until their deaths in 1982. As director of Magnificat House Inc., she draws no salary, only enough to meet her needs, which are small. Magnificat House is a non-profit network of 11 shelters for the homeless she founded in 1968. She also operates the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen and is planning to open a center for abused children soon. Many of the people she shelters are former mental patients released from hospitals but with no place to go. There are many in Denison who remember the hard times of the Depression years. Being a railroad town and the railroad being the only mode of transportation for many of these "down on their luck" persons who didn't have a job, home or food to eat, there are many here who remember the hungry going through the neighborhood asking for meals. Some of these people were willing to work for their meals and others were constantly moving, trying to find something to hold onto. Some people made a practice of leaving plates of food on the back porch for any hungry traveler to eat. But Ms. Badami's grandmother would invite the homeless in, sit them down and feed them. Once, when her family protested, the grandmother said, "They get just as hungry as you do." These thoughts stuck in Ms. Badami's mind and she could never stand to see anyone hungry. Her family wanted her to be a laboratory technician, but tests showed she had an aptitude for social work. After graduating from the University of St. Thomas with a degree in sociology, she was employed as a social worker and later as a teacher for retarded children. But over the years, the desire to help the really "down and out" persisted and in 1964 she opened her first home for girls in reformatories and prisons. The home was called the Sancta Maria Hotel and she operated it until 1967. Then using her own money, she opened the first Magnificat House in January 1968 with beds for 8 women. Then seeing the need for more and more help, she opened 4 soup kitchens in downtown Houston in 1970. The Loaves and Fishes, only kitchen operating today, feeds many of Houston's "street people" with food donated by downtown restaurants, food stores and federal programs. This is one person who is doing her share for humanity and we're happy to say she received her inspiration to help others right here in Denison.  Biography Index Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |