Kathryn Coumanis

You Can't Beat an Alabama Woman Kathryn Coumanis

"In 1978 Domestic Violence was not a recognized criminal offence nor a term used or understood by most Americans. There were no shelters or services for these victims and their children. The very first shelters were in England and little was known about them.
Unscathed by this lack of information or workable data Kathryn had only to hear by accident about the Shelter movement in England when the ?light bulb? went off and her mission was confirmed.
Against all odds and with the threat of committing ?professional suicide? she set out to do that which she had no earthly idea how to accomplish, establish a shelter for battered women and their children.
With the encouragement of her women?s organization, The Daughter?s of Penelope the impossible became a reality. Penelope House opened on March 19, 1979 as the first Battered Women?s shelter in Alabama and the fifth such shelter in the United States.
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