By EmmaLee Italia |Correspondent

When Kathy DiFiore took that first pregnant teen into her home in 1981, she couldn’t have imagined she’d be attending a film screening years later about the work she would do with thousands of unwed mothers.

“I’m in a state of shock,” DiFiore said. “We just found out on Wednesday that the film would be shown at the festival.”

The film is “Gimme Shelter,” a movie chronicling the life of a pregnant teen trying to piece her life together after years of abuse and neglect. It will be screened at the Diocese of Trenton’s annual RE:IMAGE Film Festival, which takes place this year April 6 at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank.

Not only will the film about her work be featured at the festival, but DiFiore will also be honored by the Diocese as this year’s recipient of the John Paul II Gravitas Award – recognizing a lifetime of celebrating the human spirit, and using creativity to give glory to God.

Art Imitates Life

“It’s a great honor to have ‘Gimme Shelter’ in a film festival in my home state, where Several Sources has been offering help to pregnant women and their children for 34 years,” DiFiore said.

More than 20,000 saved babies owe their lives to the intervention of DiFiore’s Several Sources Shelters - shelter homes in Ramsey that provide free housing and prenatal care to women in need. Thousands of young mothers, faced with the difficult decision to carry their pregnancies to term without supportive family or friends, have sought help from DiFiore.

“Gimme Shelter” tells the story of Apple (played by Vanessa Hudgens), a teen who DiFiore says is a composite of two of the girls who have lived at her shelters. Apple’s drug-addicted mother (Rosario Dawson) is unable to care for her daughter, who has been turned over to a series of foster homes. Apple attempts to seek help from her estranged father (Brendan Fraser), who advises her to get an abortion after discovering she is pregnant. Upset, Apple flees his home, ultimately getting into a car accident. At the hospital, a chaplain (James Earl Jones) speaks with her, eventually convincing her to go to a shelter for pregnant teens. There Apple discovers a house filled with other young pregnant women and women with newborns, all with their own stories of desperation and hope.

“It’s become more than a movie.  It’s become a movement,” said DiFiore. “People who have seen the movie come out feeling like they want to do something more with their lives. It makes us think about God and his work in this world in a different way. We realize that simple acts of kindness can change many lives.” 

Many of the young mothers and their children featured in the movie are current or past residents of Several Sources Shelters. And one mother, whose life story inspired many events in the character of Apple, plans to attend RE:IMAGE alongside DiFiore.

In addition to the film’s screening, DiFiore’s recently published book will premiere at the RE:IMAGE festival. Entitled “Gimme Hope, Gimme Love, Gimme Shelter: The True Inspiration Behind the Movie Gimme Shelter,” the book includes the story of nine of the girls who lived at the shelter - nine “Apples,” DiFiore calls them.

“In every one of the chapters, I allow one of the girls to write part of it,” DiFiore explained. “A lot of them have grown children now. I learned from these girls. And all the proceeds of the book go to the shelters. I have high hopes - not just for the shelters, but also for anyone who knows a pregnant teenager - it’s gonna help.”

DiFiore remembers one baby who began her life at Several Sources Shelters. She and her mother, along with DiFiore, met Mother Teresa - who had been instrumental in helping change New Jersey law to allow DiFiore to operate the original shelter.

Now 25, the young woman recently asked DiFiore a poignant question.

“’Kathy,’ she said, ‘do you think some of Mother Teresa rubbed off on me?’”  DiFiore admitted, “That’s one of the nicest questions I’d ever been asked.”

What You Do for the Least of These ...

DiFiore finds solace in the shelters she helped create, both because of the new life owed to them, and the spiritual connection she feels.

“It’s a deeply sacred, religious holy ground,” she recalled. “When you walk there, you feel not just inspired, but you feel the presence of God. It’s not like any place on earth. So many babies have been saved there.”

Herself a victim of an abusive marriage, DiFiore escaped in 1980 and found herself homeless. She eventually found a job and purchased a small home. But the experience of homelessness stayed in her mind and heart, making her very aware of what others in that same circumstance endure.

“No one can understand what that feels like unless they experience it,” said DiFiore. “But while I was homeless with only the clothes on my back and moving from friend to friend, I always had God in my heart. He was always walking beside me. It truly was the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi that comforted me most at that time.”

The life of St. Francis inspired DiFiore to take in a woman who had adult acute leukemia, and an elderly woman who needed a temporary place to stay.

“I thought, what better thing to do (next) than to take in a pregnant teenager - so I ran an ad in the personal column of a local paper: ‘Pregnant? Need Help? Call.’ And the pregnant teens started to call me for a place to live.”

DiFiore didn’t know the demand would soon outgrow her resources, and even the New Jersey legal limits.

In 1984, after sheltering several pregnant women free of charge in her home, DiFiore faced a fine for “operating an illegal boarding house.” A congressional bill was sponsored by state Senator Gerald Cardinale to exempt non-profit groups from the legislation. The bill, however, was slow to pass. DiFiore contacted Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was in New York accepting a United Nations award. A letter Mother Teresa wrote helped to convince those opposed to the legislation to change their minds. DiFiore and Mother Teresa remained friends from then on, exchanging several letters.

Across the decades the need for shelters kept growing - so DiFiore kept finding ways to open more. Currently Several Sources runs three pregnancy shelters. They also operate a daytime shelter called Ladies and Babies Rest in Newark, which complements the nighttime shelters in the city available for the homeless only to sleep. In the fall of 2012, Several Sources launched the Gift of Hope Sonogram Center in Englewood, where women can receive a free sonogram, counseling, and a direct contact with the other shelters and their resources. Parenting and chastity education are also key components of the shelter programs. The education even extends beyond the shelters, with a special kit instructing others in how to follow in DiFiore’s footsteps.

“More than 70 people have contacted Several Sources for our ‘How to Open a Shelter Kit,’” DiFiore noted. “They are from all over the United States and as far away as Ireland.  We can’t keep up with the number of people.”

The shelters operate through the generosity of fundraisers and of private donors , many of whom DiFiore meets in churches across the state. As shown in the film, DiFiore travels to various parishes to tell them about the mothers and children being helped by the shelters, often bringing a new mom and baby with her for the presentation.

About 20 years ago, Several Sources board member Robert Hoehn, a parishioner of St. Paul Parish, Princeton, offered to speak with then pastor, Msgr. Walter Nolan, about having DiFiore speak at his parish. Since then, DiFiore was invited back to speak at St. Paul’s on numerous occasions.

Msgr. Nolan’s television and radio program, The Catholic Corner, will feature DiFiore in a broadcast scheduled to begin running March 16.  They had the opportunity to record an interview with her at one of the Ramsey shelters this week.

“It’s just excellent,” said Msgr. Nolan, of the work DiFiore has accomplished. “My feeling is ... miracle of miracle of miracles. Not only are the young ladies here experiencing love and being loved, but they are realizing that they are doing it themselves (for their children), and that is absolutely a gift of God.”

Honoring God’s Work

The RE:IMAGE Film Festival committee selects a person to honor with their Gravitas Award, which is inspired by the example of Blessed Pope John Paul II, who at one time was both an actor and playwright. He encouraged artists to use their talents as gifts from God - and the Gravitas Award seeks to celebrate someone who does just that. According the the RE:IMAGE website, “Gravitas - which in Latin means a quality of substance or depth of personality - carries with it a sense of the importance of the matter at hand, as well as responsibility and earnestness, dignity, seriousness and duty.”

DiFiore has allowed her life story to become a vehicle for proclaiming the sanctity of life, and how we as Christians should embrace our fellow human beings in all stages and circumstances.

“In my heart I just felt that this award was special and a holy confirmation from our dear Lord that soon-to-be St. John Paul II was indeed . . . very pleased with the film and its message.”

DiFiore will accept the award at the RE:IMAGE festival, accompanied by Darlisha, one of the mothers who inspired the movie’s character of Apple.

“My heart sings every time I think of it. I will cherish this moment and this honor as I share it with the young mothers who continuously choose life for their innocent preborn babies,” DiFiore said.