On August 29 th , Sisters from across the country gathered in Somerville’s very own Flatbread Pizza
Company in order to kick off their ReSister Weekend! Representing the Boston Sisters, we had Point Nuns Lida
Christ and Gloria LeLuia as well as Sisters Aria Inyette, Tori D’Affair, secularly-dressed May Flower, Novice
Isaiah Prayer, and Aspirants Len and David. From the Cincinnati Sisters, we had Novice Char Cooterie-Board
and from the Nashville Sisters, we had legendary Sister Faegala Pfischzoot.
ReSister Weekend was a direct response to the oncoming storm that is the “Straight Pride” parade
being held in Boston this upcoming Saturday. As soon as The Boston Sisters heard that this event might take
place, they mobilized and created an entire weekend of events that people could attend as alternatives – safe
spaces for our community. The first of these events was the fundraiser we held at Flatbread Pizza in Davis
Square.
The Sisters arrived around 5:30 and began setting up a table by the front door. This table was covered
in a beautiful shiny veil and housed the four amazing raffle prizes (more on those later) as well as Sister
chachkis like buttons, stickers, and fans. As patrons arrived … some looking for The Sisters, some just to have
pizza and bowl … they were greeted by The Sisters and had many questions answered (Who are you? What
are you doing here? Why do you look like that? What is “straight pride”? What’s the best pizza?). For the
raffle, The Sisters gathered over $300 dollars-worth of prizes – a $50 gift certificate to Club Café, a $75 gift
certificate toward a haircut at James Joseph Salon, a $100 gift certificate to DBar in Dorchester, and a pair of
tickets to the Lyric Stage Theater!! Patrons were allowed to pick which prize they wanted to put into and they
were all pretty evenly split.
Once the night had started to roll, The Sisters decided to put on a bit of a show for the patrons of the
venue by renting their bowling shoes and doing a few frames of candlepin. Sister Faegala and Novice Char,
being from out of town, had never even heard of it. So Sisters Lida and Gloria showed them the ropes. Char
was a natural. It was around this time that The Sisters were joined by their very special guest, Saint Trampolina
Glenellen! Trampy had heard the rumblings of Straight Pride and offered her services to any event we were
going to be attending or hosting. She was a ray of sunshine and bubbles and we simply adore her – not a bad
bowler either!
The night continued in this manner. Lots of bowling. Lots of pizza. Lots of mingling. Lots of raffle. Lots
of families looking at us like they were hallucinating. Through all of their raffle ticket sales and general
donations, The Sisters managed to pull $400 – every penny of which will be going to their Community Grants
Fund to then be given out at the end of the year to other non-profits. In addition to the four-hundred, The
Sisters were also ECSTATIC to hear that Flatbread had decided to donate one dollar from EVERY flatbread pizza
they sold that night!! What an amazingly kind gesture. As of the writing of this report, however, The Sisters
have yet to be told how much extra money that means, but every bit helps, so they are just happy to be
partnering with such generous venues.
Around 9:45, The Sisters pulled the raffle tickets! Two of the prizes were won by the same person!
Such luck!! All of the tickets had the name and phone number of the purchasers so that people could go home
after their pizza and bowling. Lida took the prizes and the tickets home and will reach out the winners
tomorrow to get them their prizes. And so, another amazingly fun event came to a close and The Sisters were
able to make some new friends, put some smiles on people’s faces, and raise money for their Funds. It was
such a great way to kick off this emotionally charged weekend. Thank you to all who attended and to those
who could not go but sent their kind wishes.
