Rose Mary Badami, Founder of Magnificat Houses, Inc. Dies at 100

HOUSTON, TEXAS, UNITED STATE, June 20, 2024 /

/ -- The

(MHI) Board of Directors is saddened to announce the death on Saturday, June 1, 2024, of Rose Mary Badami, MSW, Founder of Magnificat Houses, Inc., the enduring Houston non-profit she founded in 1968.

"Rose Mary created a ministry to serve the most vulnerable in our community, Magnificat Houses, Inc. It is our duty and privilege to continue her legacy indefinitely, and all of us at MHI will strive to do so," commented Meredith Vaughan, MHI Executive Director.

For 55 years, MHI has housed Houston's homeless while addressing hunger and mental illness. In 2023, MHI provided nearly 30,000 bed nights to 1025 men and women through its 14-30 day emergency, 90-day, and single-room occupancy housing programs across its network of 15 residential properties.

, MHI's Downtown soup kitchen operating at 2009 Congress since 1976, served 105,595 meals to hungry Houstonians, free of charge, no questions asked. St. Joseph House, a Clubhouse International-accredited mental health center provided free services, community, and advocacy to empower 201 members who have verifiable mental health diagnoses.

Rose Mary's vision to shelter the homeless will be further realized with the opening of RoseMary's Place, a Midtown development currently under construction, which will house an additional 149 of Houston's chronically homeless. The namesake is a tribute to her enduring legacy of service in the Houston area. While the addition to the MHI network of facilities will double capacity to shelter the homeless, the organization will stay true to its founder's values and its mission to be a welcoming community where those needing housing, food and mental health programs can stabilize and grow in productivity and independence.

To honor and further Rose Mary Badami's legacy,

may be made online through

or by check to Magnificat Houses, Inc., P.O. Box 8486, Houston, TX, 77288. Please designate Badami Memorial. For more information, or to join Rose Mary's tribute page in the MHI quarterly newsletter, The Magnifier, please contact the editor at

.

CONTACTS:

Gina Monti

Communications

(281) 206-4384

Meredith Vaughan

Executive Director

(206) 915-2747

About Magnificat Houses, Inc. (MHI)

Magnificat Houses, Inc. is a welcoming community where those needing housing, food and mental health programs can stabilize and grow in productivity and independence. MHI offers refuge and hope by creating homes where displaced persons of differing mental abilities, social backgrounds, religions, and cultures can live together in a healing community. Now in its sixth decade, MHI has been in continuous service to Houston's poor and displaced through four areas of outreach: housing, meals, mental wellness, and skills training. MHI operates 15 housing structures in rotation in Houston neighborhoods, Loaves & Fishes Soup Kitchen serving 300-350 fresh meals six days per week, St. Joseph Clubhouse, free and open weekdays to those with mental health diagnoses, and also provides skills training through partnerships and in-house programs to empower those reentering society. MHI was founded in 1968 by social worker Rose Mary Badami, who envisioned a faith-based organization dedicated to creating compassionate communities where all, regardless of their backgrounds or misdeeds, are respected and invited to become the best version of themselves. Tens of thousands have passed through Magnificat's many doors and programs over the last 55 years.