Southie Reunion Honoring One of Southie's Best-Brian Wallace-ft. Dru Errico

55 Hallet Street,Boston MA 02122

25 September, 2021

Description

Brian and his family want to bring our families, friends, and community together for a wonderful old-fashioned Southie reunion! Brian Wallace is a husband, father, writer, athlete, former State Representative, son of South Boston. He is someone that has always been there for everybody. Brian and his family want to bring our families, friends, and community together for a wonderful old-fashioned Southie reunion! RESERVE A TABLE for $250. Call Robert Pacitti at 617-910-7728. Checks can be mailed to: A Night for Brian Wallace Attn: V. Wayryszuk East Boston Savings Bank 708 East Broadway South Boston, MA. 02127 If you mail a check for a ticket or a table reservation, please call Robert Pacitti at 617-910-7728 and let him know. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!! ____________________________________________ Planning Committee: Robert Pacitti, Bob Ferrara, Mary Joyce-Morris, Tommy McGrath, & Moss Lynch. ____________________________________________ ********************** A Note From Brian Wallace: It is kind of humbling to have your friends put together an appreciation night for you for doing things that just came naturally to you all your life. When I reflect on all the fundraisers that I have run, I realize that I had more fun and felt good about helping other people. It is funny, but nobody knows the genesis behind some of the larger ones. In 2000 Teddy Cunniff called me and said that the Southie hockey team had advanced to the National Championship game in Minnesota, which was the good news, the bad news was that they were wearing uniforms that were twenty years old. He asked me if I could raise about a thousand dollars to buy brand new uniforms. I went down to the Bank of Boston Pavilion and asked my friend's down there if I could run a small Southie Reunion with maybe 500 people. They agreed, but the 500 people turned into 6,500 hundred, and The Great Southie Reunion was born. We raised over 100,000 and gave Teddy $14,000 and all the other youth sports programs $7,000. A month later, a fire spread through East 6th street and Swallow Street damaging or destroying over 20 homes. People asked me if I could raise money to help the families. I already had my people from The Great Southie Reunion in place, so we organized an event at the World Trade Center. We had four rooms, a karaoke room, a Las Vegas Room, a room with bands, a lounge with a bar. We raised over $300,000 and started the South Boston Fire Fund, which is still in existence. After the Allied Vets went through the protracted hearings on the makeup of the Parade, Wacko called me and said that legal fees had wiped out the money for the Parade. He asked me if we could raise money to make sure the Parade went off as planned. We came up with a novel idea called "The Mayor of South Boston" contest and raised $51,000 that first year. Wacko raised about $10,00, and we never looked back. The Mayor of South Boston race went on to raise over $700,000 in its 12- year existence. In 1997 the Ferrara brothers ran a youth flag football league, which was super successful. I wrote a story in the paper about starting our own Pop Warner franchise, and 47 people showed up at the Iron Workers Hall. The next day I called the National Pop Warner Association and told them that we wanted to start a program in South Boston. The guy said, great, but you need to raise $100,000 to start." I was dismayed but went back to my 47 people and told them. Nobody blinked, and we raised $177,000 and Pop Warner thanks to the Ferrara Brothers, Robert Pacitti, Bobby Lerro and so many others are still winning, I have never told anyone about why we did what we did. I want to say thanks to so many people!