The man on the bus

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Barrett Ford, the executive director of Bundles of Hope, wants to make sure no baby in Birmingham has to go without diapers. To do that, she’s enlisted the help of Skip Bondur, who has an outside-the-box approach to fundraising. 

His method: living on the roof of a revamped school bus for a week to grab attention and encourage donations.

Bundles of Hope started in October, Ford said, in response to a local need for diapers at area food banks. Disposable diapers are often too expensive for food banks to stock, and they are not covered under food stamps or WIC (Women, Infants and Children) benefits.

“This is where I can help, and it’s close to my heart as far as I have children. I couldn’t imagine not having enough diapers for them,” Ford said.

Since Bundles of Hope began, Ford said the “horror stories” she has heard have convinced her to keep the program going. She has heard of mothers being forced to leave dirty diapers on infants too long or cut out the used part and replace it with paper towels because they can’t afford to buy enough diapers.

The charity got its 501(c)(3) status in August and has collected 35,000 diapers so far. Bundles of Hope works with a number of organizations to distribute the diapers, such as Bluff Park Community Church and Green Valley Baptist Church in Hoover. Other partners include the Lovelady Center, Her Choice Birmingham Women’s Center and First Baptist Church of Alabaster.

Ford said there’s no real difference in which areas need diapers — the churches in Hoover are just as desperate for them as the women’s centers. She’s hoping to expand services into St. Clair County and others around Birmingham, and eventually affiliates in north and south Alabama as well.

Before that, she has another goal in mind: 100,000. By National Diaper Awareness Week, which starts Sept. 28, Ford wants to collect 100,000 diapers. From Sept. 11-20, a painted bus will be parked in the gravel easement in front of the Target at 4616 U.S. 280 S.

There will be events throughout the Stuff the Bus week, including Dreamcakes and Off the Hook food trucks, an Auburn/Alabama donation competition, car seat checks by the Birmingham Fire Department and an autograph day with members of the Birmingham Southern basketball team and cheerleaders. To reach that 100,000 goal, however, Ford needs a way to draw eyes away from 280 traffic.

That’s where Skip Bondur comes in.

As part of Revolt Ministries, Bondur and his wife and children participate in outreach programs throughout the Southeast. They own their bus and a camper and have been on the road almost constantly since September 2012.

The Bondurs will do four donation drives this year: food, toys, school supplies and diapers. At each drive, Bondur lives in about 100 square feet on the bus roof.

“I literally will spend a month this year living on the roof of my bus,” Bondur said in a phone interview from Florence, Alabama, where he was on top of the bus for a school supplies drive. “I’m the crazy guy who during rain, cold, whatever lives on the roof of the bus.”

The Bondurs are able to provide experienced advice to the donation drive organizers they help, as well as “kind of a circus” to draw the crowd.

“I’m noticed as people are driving up and down 280,” Bondur said. “They see me and they start asking questions.”

He will have a camping tent to sleep in and another tent and fan to combat the weather during the day. Bondur said it can be a mental and physical challenge to live in a confined space without protection from the elements. Boredom can also be a factor, though he said no two drives are the same.

Bondur said his family decided to help Bundles of Hope because they felt the importance of what the charity is doing. He is confident that his bus will have 100,000 diapers on Sept. 20.

Ford believes it’s possible, too. After all, their first goal at Bundles of Hope was to collect 6,000 diapers in a month, and they surpassed that goal in three weeks.

“We just want to be able to fix the issue and help as many people as we can,” Ford said. “This is something that isn’t being handled, and we want to take on this and we need everybody’s help to do that.”

Stuff the Bus Drive