Sanctuary: Kip Tiernan and Rosie’s Place, the Nation’s First Shelter for Women, by Christine McDonnell, illustrated by Victoria Tentler-Krylov

 

Often, the names of people who have done notable things become household words; we know about them and their accomplishments. Sometimes we discover the name and the accomplishments of someone we didn’t know about. Sanctuary: Kip Tiernan and Rosie’s Place, the Nation’s First Shelter for Women introduces readers to just such a person. Author Christine McDonnell’s engaging biography of Kip Tiernan shares the scope of a determined, principled woman’s life – from standing at her generous grandmother’s side as she fed hungry people from her own kitchen during the Great Depression of the 1930s, through Tiernan’s response to the call for change to help end poverty and war in the 1960s, to her realization that women were an unidentified part of the homeless population. After listening to and observing the visitors to Saint Joseph’s House of Hospitality in New York City, open to all those struggling for sustenance and support, Kiernan returned to Boston determined to find a place where women could come to be safe, warm and fed. After much advocacy, the city of Boston rented her an empty supermarket space, which opened as Rosie’s Place on Easter Sunday in 1974. First, there were coffee and sandwiches offered, and then hot meals and beds. Soliciting support from people who could contribute money to Rosie’s Place, Kiernan boldly stated: “Who decides who gets the condo and who gets the cardboard box?” An activist through and through, she also lent her energies to Boston Health Care for the Poor, the Greater Boston Food Bank, the Poor People’s United Fund and the push for permanent housing for the unsheltered. Victoria Tentler-Krylov’s inviting paintings beautifully convey the needs of underserved individuals and the dignity with which they can be given a space to rest and move forward. In a post-script “More about Kip Tiernan” readers learn about causes of homelessness and the memorial to Kiernan near Copley Square in Boston. Just think about all the people whose names are not “household words” but whose lives have exemplified the very best instincts and service to society! Do you know someone like that about whom you can tell a story? Ages 7-10. Candlewick Press, 2022.