We will be working in Pass Christian, MS. We hope to take between 25-30 volunteers. The cost of the trip will be $199. We are in disparate need of more drivers for the University vans as a result we are making it free for faculty and staff who can drive. More info can be found atOn this trip we will be partnering with the First Baptist Church of Olean who will be going down the week before us to work. This promises to be a win-win relationship where we can help them locally as well.Remember all BonaResponds trips are open to everyone!
Thus our efforts have to slightly change. We can no longer just show up and work. We have to help before we go. In this light we are adopting a family for the January trip.More details (and pictures will follow shortly) but the story is that we are going to help a family in Pass Christian that lost everything. They started rebuilding but then ran out of money. So the mother, grandmother, and two young children are still living in a FEMA trailer. It is estimated that they will need $25,000-$30,000 to complete their home. But since they are still paying the mortgage on their first (now destroyed) home, they can not borrow to pay it. Insurance money is gone, and they are really hurting.BonaResponds is adopting them in conjunction with Randys Rangers. If you can help with some of these expenses, I am sure you will make the family VERY VERY VERY happy.Not sure what to get someone for a Christmas Present? Make a donation in their name. We will send them a card and pictures of what their present is doing to help those in need in the Gulf.Make Checks payable to St. Bonaventure BonaResponds (as a memo put Adopt a family). Our address is BonaResponds, Box BY, St. Bonaventure NY 14778
We will be going to Mt. Irenaeus for a sort of working retreat. It will be a great opportunity to get away and relax with other members of BonaResponds. Open to all who have volunteered in the past AND those who want to get involved in the future! (So that pretty much includes you all!!!)Vans (seating is limited) will be leaving UMIN at 2PM on Saturday. However we need to know in advance. Please email Mike Connery (CONNERMT@sbu.edu) by Thursday noon if you want to go.We will be doing a bit of work for the Mountain and then having some time to plan future events, think about how BonaResponds can better serve the community, and more.I am sure it will be a good time and you will come back with a fresh perspective on how big of role you can play. So if at all possible come with us.
Like any charity we can only help people with the help of others. Contrary to popular opinion, we are not funded by the University. The university does help us with computers, supplies, vans (sometimes), meeting rooms, and a storage facility. But your donations allow us to survive and prosper.One small example, without donations we could not subsidize the cost of volunteer's travel. For instance in January we are charging $199 for food and travel. The actual cost is about $350, it is your donations that allow this to happen. And remember the donations are tax deductible!Each and every donation helps, but a few this month deserve special attention.A special THANK YOU goes to Mike Russell's Marketing classes which held two fund raisers for us. John Kennedy and his group held a chicken wing eating contest that raised about $400 for us and Mike Vieyra and his group raised about $100 for us.Joe and Patti Coate continue their great service and help and will be donating their van to BonaResponds. It will be a great help in transporting people and supplies. Thank you so much!!However, possibly the most important donation this month comes from Clarence in Ohio. Clarence is an 83 year old WW II vet. He is blind now, but had been a wonderful artist. We worked on his flooded home in October and he insisted we take some of his paintings. All but one of the volunteers agreed to donate the art to an auction. The proceeds of the auction will be split 50:50 to help Clarence rebuild and for general BonaResponds expenses.The Auction will be held December 7th (I think! Plans still being worked out).