BonaResponds Fall Break Trip: Camden NJ

We are going to Camden NJ. We will be working out of Fr. Jud's St. Anthony of Padua Parish.
It will be fun. All BonaResponds trips are!

The cost will be $75 which covers food when we are there, a place to stay (you will need sleeping bags), and a t-shirt.




 What to bring:

1. A good attitude
2. Work clothes (jeans, long sleeve tee, short sleeve tee, sweatshirt, workboots (ideally steel toed).
3. Gloves--leather is best IMO
4. Sun glasses/safety goggles
5. Sleeping bag (pillow if you want one--yoga block works great and is smaller)
6. A pair of shorts would not be a bad idea
7. Flashlight
8. Phone charger
9. Digital camera
10. Towel
11. Toiletries etc (contacts, toothpaste, toothbrush, etc)
12. Water bottle
13. Granola bars etc for drive

Volunteers assemble more than 113,000 meals for Haitian children at St. Bonaventure event

Volunteers assemble more than 113,000 meals for Haitian children at St. Bonaventure event:

"On a solemn day of remembrance, hundreds of volunteers filled the Reilly Center Arena to offer a reminder of man’s nobler intentions.

Spearheaded by more than 350 St. Bonaventure students and community members, more than 500 volunteers — divided into four shifts — spent roughly eight hours Saturday, Sept. 11, packaging more than 113,000 meals for Haitian children affected by January’s devastating earthquake."

An article for the SBU website....

Mini-service Weekend

While volunteering with 500 others is great, small workdays can be just as special. You get to know others better and really see the impact that you are making. This weekend BonaResponds will be having a mini service weekend. We will have a small team going to the SPCA on Saturday to paint the Kennels, work on the dog walking trail, and walk some dogs. The Cattaraugus County SPCA is a no-Kill shelter and some dogs have been there many years. The least we can do is to assure they get a walk!
On Sunday we plan on offering a one hour chain saw lesson (Chain saw safety is a MUST and no one who has not been trained can use our saws after disasters) and then work on the Bob's Woods Trails for a while.

Sign up:

Great video of us packing 113,184 meals!

Coverage of our event:
AmazingAerialPhotos.com's Michael Kintner made a really cool video of the day. Here is it.




WIVB Channel 4  and WGRZ each have some pictures but no video online.




We will post pictures later in the day (time to run now, and then go work for a bit (remember we are meeting at 10:30 behind Murphy).

BonaResponds in words

Update on Saturday's food packing

On Saturday over 400 volunteers (closer to 500!) will be packing meals from 9AM to 6:30 PM in the Reilly Center. It should be a very interesting event to watch. We will have music playing and everyone should be having a great time. We will also be selling clothes that were donated for a "garage sale" that are an absolute screaming deal at $2 or less for often times never worn clothes, "Jesus is a Saint Fan" t-Shirts, and More!

Please stop and think about the size of that. 100,000 meals.

This is part of the FoodForHaitiNow project that was started back in the weeks after the January Earthquake in Haiti. The project has been a group effort of BonaResponds, Villa Volunteers, Daemen College, Olean Theater Workshop, Park and Shop, and Cuba-Rushford, Allegany, Olean school students. It also has been a testament to how SBU can pull together. A giant thank you in advance to the Maintenance staff, the Athletic Dept, Security, the PR dept, Hickey Dining Hall personnel, and many many others who have been amazingly helpful and patient with countless changes of plans. But the biggest thank you goes to the volunteers. Without your commitment this could not get off the ground. So please honor that commitment and attend at your agreed upon time. 100,000 people are depending on you!

Also we will be having a bake sale in conjunction with the Olean Area Islamic Center to help relief efforts in Pakistan. So bring some spare change and enjoy as you watch people pack food that will be going to schools, orphanages, and tent villages.
For more information on this even, please see http://BonaResponds.org or http:FoodforHaitinow.org.

If you would like to volunteer, we could use some people still on the 4:30-6:30 shifts as well as for take down 6:30-8:00 on Sat, and set up 5:00 PM today at the back of the RC.

Interesting video about helping in less developed countries

From MSNBC:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

HT to Ray Shader for this one!

Livestrong Weekend

October 2-3rd. 



BonaResponds will be holding a local service weekend in conjunction with the National Livestrong Day. We will have volunteers working at multiple sites across the area. As part of the Livestrong Day our focus will be on helping Cancer survivors.

If you know of any cancer survivor (or current patient) that needs some free help, be it mowing the yard, raking leaves (although early October might be a bit early), painting, or fixing a porch, or who know what, we would like to help.

But we need your help. Before we can help, we need to know who needs the help. So if you know of a cancer survivor who lives within 45 minutes of Olean that could use a little helping hand, please let us know! 


 

BonaResponds General interest meeting

There will be a BonaResponds General Interest meeting at 8pm in the Murphy Auditorium on the St. Bonaventure Campus.

Agenda will include:

1. What is BonaResponds
2. Who are leaders
3. Saturday's Food Packing Event
4. Update on Haiti events
5. Local events
6. Other ways to help (Pakistan?)
7. Fall Break Discussion

It will also be covered on "Cover-it-live" if you can not attend.

This Weekend (Labor Day weekend)

Mini-service Weekend
Not a huge event, but we do need some volunteers

• On Friday at 5:30 Working on Bob's Wood's trails. Depending on how many show up, work will include mowing, chain sawing, and sign painting.   
• Saturday -taking down an old ramp and maybe doing some painting (depending on how many show up and weather)
• Sunday we will be going over to Randolph to work on a wheelchair ramp.  Leave 10:30 from Murphy, return about 6 each day.  (yes you can drive if you want to come back early) 

ok, I confess I am in a miserable mood.  The only way I know how to help lift myself out of the duldrums is to work harder, So while we had planned on working one day this weekend anyways, we might as well add two more since the work needs to be done and I will be there anyways, AND  would love to have some company!