she`s so skirt!

Pat Bourke gives women a chance

Sitting behind her desk at the Department of Labor, Pat felt helpless relaying the message of "no vacancy" to desperate, scared women hoping to find a night's rest at a local shelter. "And if I felt helpless," she says, "I can't imagine how women, many with children in tow, must have felt." Pat will retire in October to devote more of her time and talents to Julie's House, an organization she incorporated in 2004. The nonprofit provides emergency shelter, assistance in applying for employment and government benefits,childcare and transportation to women in need. The organization has managed to get more than thirty women back on their feet by using whatever means available, including Pat's own credit cards and home equity. Although Julie's House still seeks a "home" to shelter women, Pat says, "we're doing the best we can with what we have and we're doing it now."