Stripper gives up officers for Lent

FT. MOORE, Ga. — In an act of charity and sacrifice, the off-base pole snuggler known as Sister Merry’n Bury has started a new Lenten abstinence and charity trend: she's not stripping for officers.

“There’s an underserved population here in Georgia. I had it on my heart recently that I should reach out to the less fortunate, so I looked around one night: all these officers were giving me large tips, and there was some younger-looking guys, timid and wide-eyed, in one of the booths, so I asked who they was. They all said they was privates,” Bury said.

When the privates said they’d have to pool their money just to share a dance, it felt fundamentally un-Christian. Bury recounted, “Here are the boys out for a good time, and they can barely get the basics, so that’s when it hit me: let me serve the poor.” Merry asked her shift manager who “said that just for Lent, I could perform for less. That led to me just giving up officers altogether. And every Thursday, I perform for free for a few guys. It fills my heart,” she said, pulling down a lacy garter to point at the tasteful, if unfinished, heart tattooed on her thigh.

Not only has Sister Bury given up dancing for officers until after Lent, she convinced her coworkers to start a crowdfunding program called “Money For Privates,” which focuses on soldiers in need. “One night a month, all the tips from all the girls go to pay bills for a needy enlisted troop. They sign up at the door and tell us their sob story, then the girls pick the winner and he gets the money.”

The officers who usually occupy Bury’s dance card have also taken up the challenge. “At first, we didn’t understand what she was doing. Then we learned how much we could help young guys and their families, so we jumped at it,” said Lt. Cooper. “Any money we usually give to Sister Bury, we pooled and donated to Money for Privates…just for Lent. It’s been amazing to see what happens when a community comes together for those who’re struggling.”

R.J. Williams is an author of military history with noted expertise in Ancient texts, especially Thucydides and the Polynesian War. His wartime biographies have been praised as a nexus of Dr. Suess, Louis L'amour, and Danielle Steele.