Supporting the Dorothy Day House

Dorothy's House, est 2006

Written by the DDH executive director in their January 2025 newsletter. 

“Dorothy Day was a journalist and an activist starting in the early 1900s. She protested for the woman's (albeit, white woman's) right to vote in 1920. In 1927, she converted to Catholicism and was an extremely faithful person until her death in 1980. She spent the majority of her life feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and sheltering the homeless, among many other works of mercy. It's also been said that in the 1940s, she had a rather large FBI file under Director J. Edgar Hoover. For the record, they eventually decided that she was not a dangerous threat.

When the group that formed the Dorothy Day House in Memphis studied her life, they were transformed. Being inspired is an understatement. Their own faith led them to research the needs of Memphis in the early 2000s to learn that they should open a family shelter that accepted married couples and pre-teen/teenage boys. They intentionally created a space where ALL people and people of ALL faiths could serve.

Now, almost 20 years later, it is our faith, yours and mine, that drives this mission to continue. It's our choice, yours and mine, to provide a home for unhoused families, to create a space where parents and children are welcomed and feel safe, and to support them as they re-build their foundation.”