The Sisterly Love Collective Sunday Supper

During some of the darkest days of the pandemic, an alliance of women restaurateurs and food entrepreneurs across Philadelphia formed with the purpose of supporting one another. The resulting Sisterly Love Collective hosted a "Sunday Supper" for Women Against Abuse in October 2021. With the support of renowned chefs, including Ellen Yin, Jennifer Carroll and many other members of the Les Dames d’Escoffier Philadelphia, they drew 200 guests and raised $25,000 for our life-saving services!

Can you tell our readers what inspired the Sisterly Love Collective Sunday Supper?

The Sisterly Love Sunday Supper came about because we wanted to collaborate with our friend, pastry chef and award-winning writer Lisa Donovan in celebration of the launch of her book Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger: A Memoir which touches on her history as a survivor of abuse. In looking at the local landscape of organizations that support women, Women Against Abuse was the top of our list reputationally and when we learned that October, when the event would take place, was Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we knew it was meant to be. So, we had our co-host and our benefactor, and from there the rest fell into place.

The Sisterly Love Collective is a group of women-owned hospitality businesses, so we knew there would be food and drinks involved in the event to showcase the incredible caliber of talent we work with. In the end, we landed on a happy hour representative of our food fairs as a seated dinner portion of the event — all to benefit Women Against Abuse while spotlighting the female culinary talent in our city.

The event was incredibly successful. Can you share a bit about what went into this charitable event?

Believe it or not, this event was actually planned and executed in just over a month. The Sisterly Love Collective Leadership team (Jezabel Careaga, Jen Carroll, Robin Broughton-Smith, Jill Weber and Ellen Yin) along with Lisa Donovan put in long hours to secure the vendors, partners and sponsors that made the event possible. In the end, we had about 200 guests join us for the event and ultimately raised about $25,000 for Women Against Abuse across ticket sales, auctions and donations.

What was your motivation for supporting Women Against Abuse, and what impact do you hope your investment will produce?

Women Against Abuse is an organization that is well known for making an impact among Philadelphia women in need. As an organization led by and comprised of women, aligning ourselves with a benefactor that aligned with our mission was crucial. Given that domestic abuse affects one in three women globally (per the World Health Organization), we know Women Against Abuse was the ideal partner for the event which took place during Domestic Violence Awareness Month. We hope that the donation raised by the Sisterly Love Sunday Supper aids in the support, advocacy and protection of Philadelphians facing abuse — especially those whose situation has been made worse by lockdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is next for the Sisterly Love Collective?

We’re forging ahead with markets, happy hours and events to promote women-owned hospitality businesses in Philadelphia. For Valentine’s Day we have two markets planned: February 12 at Jet Wine Bar, 1-3 PM and February 13 at Hudson Table, 1-3 PM. For Women’s History Month, we are planning a major professionalization event that will be open to the public, but more details to come on that. You can stay up to date on all that we’re up to by following us on Instagram @sisterlylovephilly.