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The Isabelle Aurilla Foundation
In honor of Isabelle Aurilla Palczewski Bruce – 1921-1997
A place to begin again.
Women helping women – transitional housing for those coming off the streets, out of shelters, out of prison, and out of detox. A real chance, given with dignity. People taking care of people, not waiting on government.
What we’re raising funds for right now
Four more bedrooms – room for eight more women whose lives we can change. And a van to get them to programs, church, and work, back and forth, so nothing stands between them and the next step.
Join us
One dollar a day can change a woman’s life.
Beatrice Bradley women – and there are a lot of you – know what it means to show up for each other. Now we show up for women who never had a village. Imagine all the good we can do if we all just chipped in $1 a day. That’s $7 a week. That’s $30 a month. Small enough that nobody feels it. Big enough, together, to give her a bed, a safe house, and a real chance. People money. Community money. No government funding.
If we all just donated $1 a day – as a thought, as a dream – imagine the lives we could change. Women and friends helping women.
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Women creating opportunity for other women
Sisterhood. Loyalty. Love of country. Private generosity – Beatrice Bradley women creating belonging and a way forward for women who need a village.
4804 30th Street South — a triplex.
931 25th St W, Bradenton, FL.
1014 3rd St E, Bradenton, FL.
These houses were bought by Beatrice Bradley founder Kim Kalan for one purpose only: housing women who need a safe place to begin again.
Our community
Beatrice Bradley women creating magic for women who need a village
Beatrice Bradley is women who travel together, look out for each other, love America, and show up. Through the Isabelle Aurilla Foundation, powered by Beatrice Bradley Experience Travel, that same sisterhood scales beyond the trips. Members create opportunity, dignity, and belonging for women coming off the streets, out of shelters, out of prison, and out of detox. Their gifts become housing and a real chance.
This is women helping women – sisterhood that builds community, not dependency. We take care of people ourselves. No government funding – by choice. People money. Community money.
- We take care of our own
Beatrice Bradley women look out for each other – loyalty and sisterhood. - We help women who never had a village
Women arriving from the street, shelter, prison, or detox deserve a village. - We fund it ourselves
No government funding – by choice. Private generosity, person to person.
Program director
Meet Lou Ann
Thirty years. Zero government dollars. Hundreds of women.
Lou Ann has been running transitional housing for women – quietly, faithfully, without recognition or grant money – for three decades. She runs a tight house. She believes structure is mercy and proves what America can look like when people take care of people.
A home for the women was purchased out of pocket before asking anyone else to give. You are not asking them to do anything you are not willing to do.
We take no government funding – by choice.
Thirty years without a government grant, contract, or handout. People money, community money. No strings. No bureaucracy. Neighbors funding neighbors.
“It takes a village. And right now, we are the village.”
Lou Ann, Program Director – 30 years of service
Kim Kalan, Lou Ann, and two of the women who live in the homes – the village, in real life.
The story
Named for Isabelle Aurilla – and for every woman who walks through the door
Isabelle Aurilla Palczewski faced hardship early and was denied the protection and education a child deserves. She married young into further struggle. Then she did the nearly impossible: she left, worked two jobs, raised three children alone, and rebuilt a life – quietly, stubbornly, with dignity.
This foundation bears her name not as a tribute to suffering, but as a tribute to the woman who got out – who refused to let hardship be the end of her story.
Every woman who walks through these doors is carrying her own version of that fight. We are here so she does not face it alone – and so she can write a new ending. Women helping women. Community standing up. No government funding. Just people taking care of people.
“No little girl grows up dreaming of this life. It is a series of circumstances – not choices.”
Kim Kalan, Founder
Our mission
We give women in crisis something they have never had – a real chance.
No woman who walks through the door has to explain herself. She gets four weeks – completely free – to decompress, breathe, and begin. After that, she contributes toward the house because she needs the dignity. That is how community self-reliance works – and why we take no government funding, by choice.
The program
How it works, start to finish
Structure is love when no one has ever given you any. The journey is clear, paced, and built around dignity – from arrival to giving back.
She arrives
From the street, a shelter, prison, or detox. She gets a bed, fresh linen, food storage, and an introduction to her new family.
She gets stable
Four weeks free. Daily meetings – 90 in 90 days – plus church, relapse prevention, chores, and deep cleaning.
She finds work
Job searching begins early. Women who find jobs pass the word back. Her weekly contribution begins.
She graduates
Six months to a year. Enough saved for her own place, or roommates who continue supporting each other.
She learns life skills
The next goal is a three-quarter house teaching budgeting, banking, saving, and life skills.
She gives back
Women who make it return to help the next woman. Nurses. Caregivers. Wives. Renters.
By the numbers
What the work looks like in plain figures
Private generosity. No government funding – by choice.
30
Years Lou Ann has run this program
$0
Government funding – ever, by choice
32
Up to 32 women housed at any one time
10
Houses – the vision and goal
Begin again
Help a woman write a new ending
Every woman who walks through these doors deserves a village. Your gift, once or a few dollars a month, keeps the door open. People taking care of people. No government funding – by choice.
“Because no woman should face it alone.”
Isabelle Aurilla Foundation
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“A place to begin again.” – No government funding by choice.
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