After years in a successful marketing career that took her across the globe, Kellie decided it was time to settle back into her hometown of Des Moines, where she began flipping houses for income. She leaned into volunteerism as a way to reconnect with the community and make friends.
While volunteering with teen girls at Y.E.S.S., Kellie was shocked by the nature and severity of abuse the children in our community endure. She was inspired to become a foster parent. It wasn’t long before her worlds merged: she discovered the home that would become Dorothy’s House.
She purchased the home, the adjacent home and the empty lot between the two. She immediately began working on the properties and found a groundswell of support in the community. The homes opened in January 2016 as a “safe place for the practice of life for those whose lives have been interrupted by human trafficking, exploitation and prostitution.”