Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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Queens of Heart Boston's fiercest philanthropists duke it out on the silver screen to Become the city's top fundraiser. by lisa pierpont left: Kristen Daly and Alissa Ford at the Jett Foundation's table at the Charity Warriors gala. right: Victoria Humphrey, Erica Corsano (holding her dog), and Elisha Daniels at the MSPCA-Angell table at the gala. below: Mary Chiochios and Christy Scott Cashman. Quietly and mightily, five formidable women have been fac- ing off—each one equipped with a sharp tongue, a steel will, and a take-cover thirst for victory—in the ultimate cat fight. Frankly, it sounds horrifying. Hollywood has lately seemed intent on setting women against each other—in The Hunger Games and the Real Housewives franchise, for example—and it 's never a pret t y i mage. But Ch r ist y Scot t Ca sh ma n a nd Mary Chiochios had another notion. Take a group of women who are naturally nurturing and particularly strong at multi- tasking and put them to good use. "Our concept is to create fundraising platforms to expose a donor to multiple charities in one cam- paign," Chiochios explains. It's called Charity Warriors: part contest, part reality show, and all about fundraising. "We use a competition bet ween fundraisers to create a fun experience for the supporter and lead to more donations for each charity," Chiochios says. Enter Barbara Quiroga, Christine McSherry, Reia Briggs Connor, Michelle Sanchez, and Erica Corsano. "Christy recognized my pas- sion for fundraising and noticed I was always out and about, not to mention the fact that I'm not shy," says Corsano, who competed on behalf of MSPCA-Angell, which works to relieve the suffering of ani- mals, provide for their health and welfare, and prevent cruelty. You can see how Corsano and her fellow warriors fared on Apr il 15, when Cashma n a nd Chiochios, bot h vetera n pro - ducers (Cashman produced the movie The Kids Are All Right, w it h Julia nne Moore a nd A nnette Bening, while Chiochios produced Open Book Club on N ECN ), unveil a 9 0 -minute documentary revealing the passion and strategies of the women in their quest for victory, as well as the final results (the funds raised by the warriors were donated to their respective charities). It's funny. It's touching. It's heart-wrenching. And it's real life. "I have made it my life's work to see a day when Duchenne is no longer a death sentence," says Christine McSherry. When her son Jett was 5 years old, he was running around with his classmates. By his sixth birthday, he had been diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a lethal genetic disor- der affecting one in every 3,500 boys. She founded the Jett Foundation, a Kingston-based nonprofit raising money to research and cure the disease. PhotograPhy by Michael blanchard (gala); dylan Scott (caShMan and chiochioS) 58 bostoncommon-magazine.com PEOPLE Spirit of Generosity 58 bostoncommon-magazine.com