I lied. Dianne lied. Even Alice lied. Bobby and Laurel didn’t see it coming. We punked them good.
Our GoFundMe campaign to raise enough money to buy Bobby and Laurel Hunsaker a good used car was stalled. This formerly homeless, drug-addicted couple had gotten themselves clean & sober and now worked full-time at the SPD Market in Nevada City. Their old car had died, putting their jobs in jeopardy. (See “Saga of Bobby and Laurel,” June 6, 2024.)
Dianne wasn’t finding any cars that could pass close mechanical inspection. Dianne is my colleague at Sierra Roots where we serve homeless people. She mentored Bobby and Laurel’s journey into sobriety, employment and housing. She wasn’t about to let them lose the jobs they loved.
Between GoFundMe and private parties, we had raised about $8,000, but it wasn’t enough. We weren’t finding acceptable vehicles at that price point. Donations had slowed to an occasional trickle – but then, an angel donor dropped me a line.
Wishing to remain anonymous, this good-hearted person simply said, “What is the balance needed to purchase the car and I will cover it.”
Armed with this financial backing, Dianne acquired a clean 2016 Honda CRV for $12,000 – but we didn’t tell Bobby and Laurel.
Instead, we told them we needed to shoot a video to kickstart the GoFundMe campaign. Waiting until after Bobby got off work at 6:30 p.m., we staged the shoot in the Nevada City SPD Market parking lot. It was Laurel’s day off, but we told her to meet us there.
In the video interview, we asked them to explain what happened to their old car, what Dianne Weichel and Alice Johnson did to keep them employed, and what a car would do for them. They told us how Dianne had rented a car, and then how Alice had loaned them a car while Dianne looked for a new-to-them used car.
Perhaps most touching was their gratitude for Dianne’s and Alice’s trust in them and generosity toward them.
After all that, Dianne apologized and admitted she’d been lying to them. They were taken aback as Dianne walked away – and returned with a balloon that had a key attached to it. The key was for the car strategically parked behind my camera.
They had been looking at it the whole time.
Totally caught off-guard, they were overcome with joy and gratitude. They were so intent on thanking her that Dianne finally had to order them to go look at their new car.
It was great fun. You can see the whole deal go down on YouTube (10 minutes)
GENEROSITY AND GRATITUDE
More than 50 people donated to the GoFundMe campaign. Most of these kind souls did not know Bobby and Laurel. All they knew was what I wrote about them or what Dianne said about them.
GoFundMe donations ranged from $10 to $500. Dianne and I each wrote thank-you notes to every one of them.
Some people chose to bypass GoFundMe, which takes a cut from each donation as well as asking for a “tip.” Bobby and Laurel sent them handwritten thank-you cards.
More than half of the total donations came from just two angel donors, both of whom requested anonymity.
One of the donors knows the Hunsakers quite well and has a sincere interest in seeing them keep their jobs. The other donor, a married couple actually, took my word for it, saying, “We are just happy to help someone who struggled with homelessness and were able to turn their lives around.”
Continuing their long tradition of giving back to the community, both John Volz Senior and Junior of Volz Bros. Automotive in Grass Valley were early financial and in-kind donors. They inspected for free every car we considered, including the one Dianne bought.
On behalf of Dianne and myself, we want to offer our most heartfelt thank you to all who gave. It gives us great joy and gratitude to live in a community that cares about each other.
UNOFFICIAL ACTS
The campaign to get Bobby and Laurel a car was neither an official action of Sierra Roots by Dianne, who is a member of the board of directors, nor was it part of my job as the creative director of the Sierra Roots/No Place to Go Project. The Upstate California Creative Corps grant, which funds the Project, does not permit fundraising.
Both Dianne and I exercised our right to act as private citizens.
We did receive permission from the Nevada County Arts Council, however, to shoot the delivery of the car. The local arts council is the administrator of the 19-county Upstate Corps for the California Arts Council.
Bobby and Laurel’s struggle to beat homelessness and addiction is epic. The car video is just part of a larger documentary we’re doing on them for the Project.
FROM THE HEART
Although the term of our Upstate California Creative Corps grant is nearing its end, the Sierra Roots/No Place to Go Project will continue on. We’re not done.
To celebrate 12 months of political persuasion and persistence funded by the grant, we are staging a free dance concert: “Songs from the Heart – Harmony to end homelessness,” also funded by the grant.
Bob Woods and Juliet Gobert headline the show, which features the Heifer Belles, some of the winners of last year’s singer-songwriter contest, and the Bob Woods Trio featuring Gobert and Geezer Gig friends.
Mark your calendars: Sunday, Aug. 4, 7 p.m., Miners Foundry. It’s free.
There will be dancing!
Tom Durkin is a columnist and the creative director of the Sierra Roots/No Place to Go Project, which is funded by the Upstate California Creative Corps and administered by the Nevada County Arts Council. He may be contacted at tomdurkin@sierra-roots.org.