In the early 1970’s, Kip Tiernan saw homeless women dressing up as men to receive help and said We can do better! And of course, that’s just what she and a handful of her friends did, opening Rosie’s Place in an abandoned Boston supermarket in 1974.

For Kip, to be comfortable with the status quo was to be complicit with the status quo. A tireless champion for peace, civil rights, affordable and accessible housing, healthcare and education, Kip was never comfortable with the many injustices
she witnessed.

She wrote countless articles and speeches, marched and fasted in protest, and lobbied and advocated on behalf of the marginalized, founding several more nonprofit organizations over the course of her lifetime. All in the name of doing better.

Kip’s indomitable spirit of activism and compassion informs everything that we do at Rosie’s Place. Every day, we ask both our guests and ourselves, How can we help? How can we do better?

The answers to these questions are often not simple or immediate. But that has never stopped us. Since the onset of the pandemic, we have grown and evolved all of our programs. From tripling our Food Pantry’s capacity to making help available online and over the phone to renovating our space to better accommodate more guests—Rosie’s Place is helping more women in more ways than ever before.

Today, on what would have been Kip’s 96th birthday, we will hold our annual celebration in the Dining Room, enjoying her favorite meal of Southern BBQ and dancing to a band playing the jazz music she loved.

And thanks to Kip, we will remember that there is even more that we can do. With friends like you—we know we will do it. Together we can always do better.

In celebration and solidarity,

Leemarie Mosca
President/CEO