A colorful, heart-shaped braided rug rests outside the front door welcoming visitors. It’s a hint to the nature of the woman inside.

For Carolyn Kinnard Ziffer, 72, home is her sanctuary. And everything in it has a special meaning or story to tell – including her yellow coon cat, Bodhi, who sits tall with perfect posture while waiting to be adored by someone new.

“He was a foster cat,” said Ziffer. The person previously caring for him moved and could no longer have pets, she said. When repeated attempts to place the cat failed, Ziffer took it as a sign that they were meant to be together.

Her love, hospitality and desire to aid those in crisis extend to the two-legged types, as well.

“I love helping people,” she said. “I love having people stay with me and I like working with people in crisis. My mission is hospitality.”

Ziffer, who hears of people in need “through the grapevine,” has opened her home to a variety of individuals for a variety of reasons. From the woman who had separated from her husband and briefly needed shelter, to musicians from the Arcady Concert Series, Ziffer’s home is also a sanctuary for others.

“Hospice is also a mission of mine,” she said. “I think it is an honor to be with someone when they are born to eternal life.” She recalls a hymn from her childhood with a part about caring for the dying. “It stayed with me my whole life.”

Born in 1931 in Tennessee, Ziffer was raised on a large farm by Christian parents. Religion was always a fascination for the girl, but the interest in different faiths grew stronger as she aged. After her marriage to a Jewish man, she learned much about Judaism, though she never converted. Her four children are of varying faiths.

“I use the terms religion, faith and spirituality interchangeably,” said Ziffer. “Love ties it all together. That’s what all religion is about, at least according to me. Love of life.”

Today Ziffer is a member of the Unitarian Universalist church, teaches Sunday school, and is a priestess in the Temple of the Feminine Divine, founded by the late Kay Gardner.

One of the questions posed to the potential priestesses in training was, “What are you doing to undo racism?” It made Ziffer think.

“The South was very different back then and there were boundaries that we didn’t cross,” she said. “There were separate schools and churches. Our cook was only 13 years old, just 7 years older than I was. We are all friends now and send each other Christmas and Mother’s Day cards.”

Even though she had already returned to Tennessee to reconcile and make amends with the African-American workers at her childhood home, Ziffer decided to do something closer to home, so she joined and became active in the NAACP, and found her niche organizing the Kwanzaa Festival.

Her goal of helping others doesn’t stop there. Ziffer is active in the Jewish community as well, helping to raise money for underprivileged, at-risk youth in Israel. She also has two foster children in India.

Ziffer embraces diversity and makes it feel at home. But this diversity is not limited to humans. Along with Bodhi, Ziffer owns an Asian box turtle, Guy, which she “fell in love with,” while perusing a pet store in Long Island, N.Y.

“I was visiting my daughter,” she said. “I bought him and brought him back to Bangor in a box on the bus.”

Ziffer maintains that the Norman Rockwell painting of a diverse crowd hanging in her living room, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” sums up her life.

“There are all races and all faiths in this picture,” she said. “That’s what I’m all about – the golden rule.”

Carol Higgins is communications director at Eastern Agency on Aging. For information on EAA, call 941-2865 or log on www.eaaa.org.