Russian River Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

What is your full Sister name?
Sister DeManda Refund

Date you joined the order?
June 21, 2009; Fully Professed June 5, 2010

What is your lay occupation?  
Computer Geek

Date of birth?  
July 12

Home town?
Santa Rosa, CA

When did you discover your calling?
In January 2009 when I attended bingo as a volunteer. Sr Scarlet Billows and Sr Katie Kizum both suggested that I check out the order. I have rediscovered my calling a few times since, one particular time was the night before Easter in San Francisco in 2010, when I was in face and found myself speaking to a gentleman who needed an open heart to listen, the kind of open heart which only a Sister can provide.

Big Sisters/Mother in the order?
Mother is Sister Saviour Applause; Big Sisters Jocelyn Hyde and Claire Voyante. Because Sister Jocelyn moved away during my noviate, I choose two additional nuns as my aunties: Sister Coppah Feel and Sister Scarlet Billows.

Why did you join?
I've been volunteering since I was 12 years old for anything and everything that interested me. It was only natural after I'd come out that I would start volunteering in the gay community, it was a perfect match. I could serve the community which I now was part of, while having the time of my life doing it.

Religious beliefs (if any)?
I am a licensed Prayer Practitioner at the Center for Spiritual Living in Santa Rosa. Through the Center I am exposed to many different religious beliefs and texts, but when it comes right down to it, I believe in the connecting power of Love.

Goals and aspirations?  
I hope that the joy I bring as a Sister will someway, somehow help this world seem a little less scary and harsh. I may never know who I affected, I may never know what it is that I caused to happen, but I will know in my heart that I did something good for someone else, and thats the knowing that makes it all worth it.

Quotes ...  
"I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be throughly used up when I die. For the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.

Life is not a brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I've got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."
-George Bernard Shaw