Listening, bonding, and understanding were the feelings as the Women Over Dinner organization hosted an intimate gathering for Black and Brown women law enforcement officers and first responders, honoring their stories of sisterhood, sacrifice, and service.
“What we go through in law enforcement as women…even in setbacks we still move forward. We still put on the badge. We still keep going, and our whole world behind us is falling apart,” said Dr. Antoinette Jennings, founder of I Am Woman Movement Inc., at the Oct. 25 event in East Harlem.
Rikers Island Corrections Officer Jenaye L.(far left) at the Women Over Dinner event on Oct. 25. (Ariama C. Long photos) 
Organizer Laurie Perez speaks at the dinner function on Oct. 25. (Ariama C. Long photos) 
Group photo of participants at the dinner function on Oct. 25. (Contributed by Women Over Dinner)
The dinner event specifically brought together NYPD and correctional officers, CUNY officers, postal inspectors, Port Authority officers, firefighters and fire inspectors, and other first responders. Over the course of a few hours, each woman participated in games and icebreaker activities to get to know one another and be vulnerable while sharing their experiences. Many said it was cathartic to express themselves about struggles with relationships, their children, femininity, and their jobs. Some even shared poetry and performed impromptu songs for the group.
“It was incredibly special to host the women that are the ones holding up our communities, to offer them an evening to relax and be served. What we felt and heard from the women that night was that this kind of experience is deeply needed for the women in law enforcement and first responders,” said Aubrey Fuller, director of Women Over Dinner, in a statement.
Women Over Dinner, a subsidiary of Unconditional Freedom, was founded by Nicole Daedone, who is currently at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. The organization has been holding space for women for the last three years, facilitating more than 600 dinners for over 6,400 incarcerated women, correctional officers, and staff. The organization got its start at the Taconic Correctional Facility in Westchester County, upstate New York. They also operate in Massachusetts Correctional Institution (MCI) Framingham and the FCI Estill facility in South Carolina.
“Incarceration can impact anyone, from Park Avenue to the park bench. I am not the exception,” said Kiki Dunston, a board member for the Unconditional Freedom team. Dunston was a onetime NYPD officer for 11 years and was formerly incarcerated. “I only knew that through the grace of God that I had to get through to the next day. I didn’t have the opportunity to say, ‘Poor Kiki.’”
