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BUNA (pronounced “boo-nuh”)- (adj.) Romanian for “good”; (n.) Lifelong nickname for a southern survivor mama on a mission to change the world, one family at a time.………..…………..……………..………………………….
“BUNA’s HOPE”
An independent non-profit outreach project
HOPING to bring nothin’ but
LOVE,
LAUGHTER,
&
FAITH
to FAMILIES
when some of life’s greatest challenges may come their way.
……………….
OUR MISSION:
We HOPE to gift families with opportunities for small beginnings away from the stress through a little LAUGHTER and PRAYER … TOGETHER, turning obstacles to stepping stones. Sometimes, it can start with just a couple-o-smiles and faith the size of a mustard seed.
Together … such faith can move mountains.
Together … we can find silver linings in the darkest storms.
Together … we can spread the contagion of HOPE!
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WHAT’S THE PLAN, STAN?
-1-
Who doesn’t like a good care package? “Buna Boxes” will be packed by families FOR families (Our first community packing day was a HUGE success on SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12th! Future packing days TBA). Each box contains:
- family games (on paper and through one family board game),
- a traditional deck of cards (with list of creative ways to use a deck of cards for unexpected family fun),
- popcorn and a feel good family movie (Ex:”Alexander and the No Good Terrible Horrible Very Bad Day”) or Red box gift card,
- a family prayer & devotional book (“Jesus Calling for Kids”)
- A goofy surprise (silly wigs or crazy glasses/costume accessories) to slap on and get the ball rolling for guaranteed fun and laughs.
All have been packed with the intent to serve the youngest to the oldest members of families (ages 2 – 92!) faced with medical and/or physical challenges. Love and laughter is contagious, it just takes someone brave enough to start it!
TO HELP KEEP OUR INVENTORY FILLED, CLICK OUR AMAZON WISH LIST BELOW:
***BUNA’S HOPE AMAZON WISH LIST***
(there you’ll find all of our items, quantities needed, and address to ship to, updated! Thank you in advance for keeping us rolling)
So far, families from all over the country have sent pictures thrilled by the surprise on their doorstep of both the special BUNA BOX gift, the excitement of all the silly stuff inside and fun family nights in store for them, the opportunities provided for prayer together, and the fact that other families rallied to do this just for them. It’s been a blessing to witness and to see it’s success. No doubt, this will continue on.
SLIDESHOW BELOW OF OUR FIRST BUNA’S HOPE PACKING DAY:
Our supplies and requests just keep coming!
**NAMES OF FAMILIES IN NEED OF BUNA BOXES/REQUESTS continue to be taken:
1-on our GIVE BACK AND PACK DAYS
2- can be emailed to TEAMBUNA@GMAIL.COM
3- Can Instant Msg us on our TEAM BUNA FB page
(include Name of Family, # of members in family, address/contact info for them, & briefly tell us a bit about them. They can also be considered for our next drawing for our HOPE DAY/VACAY GETAWAY if a phone number is provided.)
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WE’VE ALREADY PACKED AND BEGUN SHARING 200+ BOXES, NO STOPPING US NOW. LET’S KEEP THE LOVE, FAITH AND LAUGHTER GOING!
#WhateverYouDoDontSmileWEDOUBLEDOGDAREYA
#YEAHRIGHT
#byFamiliesFORFamilies
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-2-
The ultimate…”HOPE DAY/VACAY GET AWAY” :
Our first HOPE VACAY GETAWAY drawing was pulled on Wednesday evening, December 21st, 2016. NEXT DRAWING TO BE PULLED BEFORE CHRISTMAS OF 2017!!! (SEE FUNDRAISERS LATER ON THIS POST AS TO HOW YOU CAN HELP US RAISE FUNDS FOR TO TREAT ANOTHER DESERVING FAMILY THE WAY THIS FAMIY SO THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THEIR TRIP!)
CONGRATULATIONS TO THEY Bayhii & Card FAMILIES!
*Their families will each embark on separate trips of their choices, thanks to the funds raised through all of you on TEAM BUNA. Dude ranches and cruises are in discussion amongst possibilities of just helping the fam in their time of need.
God bless each and every one of you for gifting this family with JOY & HOPE during a long hard battle with breast cancer this year. They’re definitely ready for a little Disney magic and much needed family time. That’s what BUNA’s HOPE is here for!
Our goal here is to raise enough funds to surprise families in need of a little lovin’, a brief getaway that raises up the WHOLE family.
Each HOPE DAY gifted will be tailored to the interest of the family (ie: transportation, food, and tickets to a game/show/event, chance to swim with dolphins, “staycation” in NOLA with hotel stay, food, and amusement park tickets, etc.) We hope to remain creative with our options with attention to the needs and passions of the WHOLE family. On this day, EVERYONE is special, NO ONE is singled out for being sick, and the WHOLE FAMILY reaps the benefit of a day away from the stress and the glory of HOPE and FAMILY FUN.
HOPE DAY GETAWAYS will be gifted quarterly and based upon the funds raised.
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WANNA GET IN ON THE ACTION?
#ItsCoolToBeKind
#JoinTheTeam
#TeamBuna
#BunasHope
#FamiliesHelpingFamilies
1. Join the Team, GET YO’ SHIRT (short sleeve, long sleeve, or sweatshirt!) Click link below:
(These T-shirtscampaigns are run through Custom Ink.com and run as a 2 week campaign. Shirts and hats are manufactured separately so have to be sold in two separate campaigns and printed/embroidered separately). Once the 2 weeks are completed, all orders are printed and shipped. These particular campaigns run from NOVEMBER 10th and 11th – THANKSGIVING DAY (NOV. 23RD). GRAB ‘EM WHILE YOU CAN, as this may be the last one for a while, since we just did another recently.)
Proceeds from Team Buna shirts at this time will go toward the family’s medical. A portion of the proceeds will also benefit the BUNA’S HOPE PROJECT to help us send a deserving families on HOPE VACAY GETAWAYS!
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2. FOLLOW us for “GIVE BACK AND PACK DAY”updates:
***FIRST PACKING DAY: ***
- WHEN: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12th was a HUGE success!
Next packing day: Currently, we’re personally packing boxes as needed in the office. But hope to host a group event soon. At the moment, we are in need of more supplies to complete more orders.
*PLEASE CLICK THE BUNA’S HOPE AMAZON REGISTRY LINK: to see how what supplies are needed and how you can help fill these much loved boxes from anywhere in the country!
- WHAT’S HAPPENING?: 2 Weeks before Each Packing Day, We hold a Collection Drive Through a BUNA’S HOPE AMAZON REGISTRY. We ask anyone to get involved by either donating items from our BUNA BOX COLLECTION list and dropping them off at our drop off locations, and/or joining us on the big packing day WHOLE FAMILIES IN THE COMMUNITY COME TOGETHER TO pack and decorate BUNA BOXES by families for families, eat and play together, raffle a prize or two for families present, sell TEAM BUNA shirts, take names of families in need of BUNA BOXES or to be considered for our ultimate HOPE DAY GETAWAYS and grant some wishes to special families.
** MEANWHILE… for the locals that can join us in the fun of some “FUN-draisers”, we have quite a few that are raising funds for this non-profit that our family feels so strongly about keeping going. 2 of the Fundraisers listed below will be split between our family and BUNA’s HOPE, and one we’ve asked to be split with a greater percentage towards BUNA’s HOPE in efforts to really raise $ for more HOPE VACAY GIVEAWAYS FOR FAMILIES. Please join in any way you can:
- BUNA BASH– NOVEMBER 17TH @ PARIS PARKER IN MANDEVILLE, LA (see link below for details and to sign up for a an evening of paying it forward and pampering. PROCEEDS WILL benefit both BUNA’S HOPE as well as the Angelette family.) https://www.eventbrite.com/e/buna-bash-tickets-39312152707 (You can also follow/join the BUNA BASH FBpage👍)
- BUNA’S HOPE FUND RUN- November 18th @ 11am (at St.Paul’s School; Covington, La) Bring the whole fam and join us as we hit the streets! 20% of the proceeds will go to BUNA’s HOPE, the rest will support the Angelette family. Click the link below to register your runners/walkers today! https://allevents.in/covington/buna’s-hope-fund-run/385587198525560# (You may also go to their BUNA’S HOPE FUND RUN FB page to follow/join👍)
- LIVE AUCTION: “LIVE TO GIVE”: November 21-25th (20% OF PROCEEDS WILL GO TO BUNA’S HOPE, THE REST WILL SUPPORT THE ANGELETTE FAMILY) This will be a live auction that you can participate from home. Click the link below and sign in the see what items are available to bid on. Great stuff and all items have been donated by amazing, generous friends and supporters! https://www.32auctions.com/livetogiveeliseangelette (You may also go to their LIVE TO GIVE FB page to follow/join👍)
- Only posting this because I’ve been asked by a few curious about our kids at Christmas. Yet, I tell you, this account, created for us on GO FUND ME (Go Fund Me – Elise Angelette) by my dear friends, Angelle Albright and Kim Hill has helped us with so much more than Christmas (as you will see the amount reflected is a sum of not what’s currently available, but what’s been raised since my last diagnosis). We’ve used these funds to pay for medical bills, surgeries, help with tuition for our 5 kids when I haven’t been able to do as much as I would like while being sick to pull income in, and have felt I’ve financially strapped us more instead. Oy! Yet.. although we don’t make sense on paper…. God provides. He always does, and this kind of support in the face of cancer for the 3rd time and 5 kids, all of which who are going to Catholic school, with the oldest heading to high school next year!! (saving for the double in tuition on that one)… All of this support has made us not feel feel afraid and say “HOW THE HECK ARE WE GONNA HANDLE THIS???” God clothes the lilies of the field and feeds the birds in the air. When we committed to a big family and life working full time in ministry, we put our trust in HIM. We didn’t know cancer would strike, too. Yet, even now… he clothes us and feeds us. Thank you for being His hands and feet. In tears, I say THANK YOU. It’s hard for me to understand all the love we’ve received or why so many have shown us so much support. But, I’m just gonna roll with it and continue to count my blessings and thank God and our “village” with every breath I take!!!
#neverendinggratitude
- BUNA BOX COLLECTION ITEMS (for Buna’s Hope care packages💙: the following specific list of items are collected by the community to be placed in BUNA BOXES IF LOCAL: help us shop and drop any of the items below, If Not Local or prefer to shop from home: Shop our Amazon WISH LIST that we normally like to post 2 weeks prior to our packing day events. It’s important that we stick to these items because of the size and shape of our flat rate shipping boxes. (i.e.: flat costume accessories, square shaped board games, small deck of cards, family friendly DVDS or movie gift cards, no extra goodies than what’s listed on our list below…)
see our BUNA’S HOPE AMAZON WISH LIST BELOW FOR SPECIFIC ITEMS
***BUNA’S HOPE AMAZON WISH LIST ITEMS***
**NOTE: We that you only drop off the items from the list above. Each item has been chosen for a specific reason. Although there are so many more extra items that one may think of, we’d like each box to have the same basic items along with our TEAM BUNA letter explaining what they got, why, and how to have the most fun with them. (Ex: creative ideas to play with a traditional deck of cards. Please, no UNO or OLD MAID cards.) Thank you!
- STAY UPDATED: Join and Share our FACEBOOK EVENT on the TEAM BUNA Facebook Page; Click FOLLOW on Home page of this blog or bookmark www.teambuna.comfor updates.
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3. DONATE!!!
**Yes, your donations are tax-deductible, as we are a 501c3. Contact us for tax credit info @ teambuna@gmail.com. **
Make checks payable to: “BUNA’s HOPE” and send to address below:
Ain’t Life Grand Investments
c/o Buna’s Hope
1950 N. Hwy 190
Covington, LA 70433
OR
Click logo below TO DONATE:
*Proceeds will primarily towards “HOPE DAY GETAWAYS” and additional supplies for “BUNA BOXES” not raised during community packing days and supplies donation drives. The more we share, the more we can make a difference.*
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4. Be sure to Click on the PRAYER WALL TAB from Buna’s blog:
LET US KNOW of FAMILIES that and INTENTIONS we can be praying for and offering our daily struggles up for in their honor each day when they are in need and REJOICING WITH when their prayers have been answered!
We also ask for special prayers as my brain MRI scan approaches on November 27th (Mon after Thanksgiving), determining my need (or not) for the Gamma Knife Radiation machine (as a non-invasive neurosurgery to remove possible remaining tumors). This is a big scan for me🙏! Fundraising is being saved to help w all needs related for this possibility as well as family and savings affected since each diagnosis
5. SPREAD THE WORD!
Share this page and any upcoming packing days as we update them.
#TellYoFriends
#TellYoMama
#TellHerFriends
#YOUcanBeOurMouthpiece
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Now let’s get out there and help some families. It’s GO TIME!
Welcome to the TEAM!
#TEAMBUNA
#BunasHope
Team Buna 