Bea was born in Wake Forest, North Carolina, and at the time of her passing was living in Baltimore, Md.
Her family was poor, and her stepfather threw her and her brother out of the house when there was no food.
In her twenties, a high school dropout and twice divorced mother of five, she moved to New York and then to Baltimore.
With the support of a lawyer friend she met in Baltimore, she earned a college degree and became a social worker.
She began her mission to help others by collecting toys at Christmas for poor children and also helped them attend summer camp.
In 1981, she started her well known Thanksgiving event with the $290 dollars she won on a lottery ticket.She was able to buy enough food to feed her family and 39 of her neighbors.
She then decided to start a community kitchen for the needy run by the needy. She begged local grocers and businesses for donations and they obliged.
In addition to feeding thousands in Baltimore, she even sent meals and used-winter clothing to shelters in North Carolina, Virginia, and New Jersey.
She also operated a shelter for women and children, a furniture bank, and a program that refurbished abandoned row-homes for poor families.
She became an ordained minister, so that she could marry and bury the poor at no cost.
She was known as the Mother Teresa of Baltimore and "Saint Bea". She was named one of former president George Bush's "thousand points of light" and was selected Family Circle magazine's "Woman of the Year".
Her daughters continue Bea's work through Bea Gaddy's Family Center.
Her family was poor, and her stepfather threw her and her brother out of the house when there was no food.
In her twenties, a high school dropout and twice divorced mother of five, she moved to New York and then to Baltimore.
With the support of a lawyer friend she met in Baltimore, she earned a college degree and became a social worker.
She began her mission to help others by collecting toys at Christmas for poor children and also helped them attend summer camp.
In 1981, she started her well known Thanksgiving event with the $290 dollars she won on a lottery ticket.She was able to buy enough food to feed her family and 39 of her neighbors.
She then decided to start a community kitchen for the needy run by the needy. She begged local grocers and businesses for donations and they obliged.
In addition to feeding thousands in Baltimore, she even sent meals and used-winter clothing to shelters in North Carolina, Virginia, and New Jersey.
She also operated a shelter for women and children, a furniture bank, and a program that refurbished abandoned row-homes for poor families.
She became an ordained minister, so that she could marry and bury the poor at no cost.
She was known as the Mother Teresa of Baltimore and "Saint Bea". She was named one of former president George Bush's "thousand points of light" and was selected Family Circle magazine's "Woman of the Year".
Her daughters continue Bea's work through Bea Gaddy's Family Center.
Bea was born in Wake Forest, North Carolina, and at the time of her passing was living in Baltimore, Md.
Her family was poor, and her stepfather threw her and her brother out of the house when there was no food.
In her twenties, a high school dropout and twice divorced mother of five, she moved to New York and then to Baltimore.
With the support of a lawyer friend she met in Baltimore, she earned a college degree and became a social worker.
She began her mission to help others by collecting toys at Christmas for poor children and also helped them attend summer camp.
In 1981, she started her well known Thanksgiving event with the $290 dollars she won on a lottery ticket.She was able to buy enough food to feed her family and 39 of her neighbors.
She then decided to start a community kitchen for the needy run by the needy. She begged local grocers and businesses for donations and they obliged.
In addition to feeding thousands in Baltimore, she even sent meals and used-winter clothing to shelters in North Carolina, Virginia, and New Jersey.
She also operated a shelter for women and children, a furniture bank, and a program that refurbished abandoned row-homes for poor families.
She became an ordained minister, so that she could marry and bury the poor at no cost.
She was known as the Mother Teresa of Baltimore and "Saint Bea". She was named one of former president George Bush's "thousand points of light" and was selected Family Circle magazine's "Woman of the Year".
Her daughters continue Bea's work through Bea Gaddy's Family Center.
Her family was poor, and her stepfather threw her and her brother out of the house when there was no food.
In her twenties, a high school dropout and twice divorced mother of five, she moved to New York and then to Baltimore.
With the support of a lawyer friend she met in Baltimore, she earned a college degree and became a social worker.
She began her mission to help others by collecting toys at Christmas for poor children and also helped them attend summer camp.
In 1981, she started her well known Thanksgiving event with the $290 dollars she won on a lottery ticket.She was able to buy enough food to feed her family and 39 of her neighbors.
She then decided to start a community kitchen for the needy run by the needy. She begged local grocers and businesses for donations and they obliged.
In addition to feeding thousands in Baltimore, she even sent meals and used-winter clothing to shelters in North Carolina, Virginia, and New Jersey.
She also operated a shelter for women and children, a furniture bank, and a program that refurbished abandoned row-homes for poor families.
She became an ordained minister, so that she could marry and bury the poor at no cost.
She was known as the Mother Teresa of Baltimore and "Saint Bea". She was named one of former president George Bush's "thousand points of light" and was selected Family Circle magazine's "Woman of the Year".
Her daughters continue Bea's work through Bea Gaddy's Family Center.
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