Our Mission

Our mission is simple. Travel across the United States and volunteer/donate our time wherever it’s needed and to causes that are important to us. And we’d really like our readers to be our navigation system by letting us know where help is needed and how we can serve as we roll through communities state by state.

So here’s what we did.

In February 2010, we began selling our things. Yup, pretty much everything we owned and worked really hard for is gone. Bubye. Has new homes and owners. Of course we kept some things that are sentimental to us but the majority of our things have a new home.

We lived in a home that was almost 4,000 square feet in Southern California and since March 1st are, at the moment, living in a family member’s hacienda in the Central Valley in California while we put the rest of our plan into motion. Now, don’t let the word “hacienda” fool you. This room is 11′ x 12′. Yup. You read that right.

Needless to say, Bun has almost been cured of her claustrophobia.

See that. Personal growth already and we haven’t even hit the road yet.

…So here’s how all this came about…

Okay, so this economy that we’re in has made us realize some hard truths about ourselves. The funny thing about hard times is at some point you have to make a conscious decision to sink or swim. When times are good, most of us become comfortable and change is far from our minds. In the midst of all the chaos that this new economy brought us, we, at one point, were beginning to sink.

That’s when it hit us!

We were actually wearing flotation devices! Yay!

At this point, we had a choice. Swim to safety and continue on with our lives the same way we always have. Or turn back and try to help as many of the other people who are sinking the same as we were. Operation b2 was born.

The day Operation b2 was born we were kinda at a low point in our lives. The economy had pretty much kicked our asses, like many of our fellow Americans, for the last few years. We were sitting in our usual spots in our family room having a discussion…ahem…okay, maybe it was an argument. Ya know, it’s those low points in life that true personal growth and change can occur and you find out what you’re made of. Don’t get me wrong. We’ve had other struggles throughout our lives. Together, we’ve been through cancer, opened and closed a couple of businesses, raised a daughter, financial stresses, relationship issues, had to come to grips with some childhood stuff and so on.

Yup…we’re both pretty dysfunctional.

The good news is we’ve had years of therapy now to help us get to this point in our lives.

Yay for therapy!!

Shout out to our therapist!! We’ll just call him Mr. T to maintain his anonymity.

Thanks Mr. T!!

Okay, so where were we?

Oh, yeah…family room…discussion/argument.

It was during this moment that Bun posed the question, “What are we doing? We really aren’t living right now and this is not how I imagined our lives would be. I’m ready to live and not stress about things that in the long run really aren’t that important. I’m ready to donate my time to causes I believe in and not just talk about how I’m going to do it one day when I have the time.”

At this point Bun looked at Bobby and asked, “What if we just sold everything and hit the road for a year? Just take off and travel across the United States, donate our time to causes we believe in, help people in need and knock off some stuff on our bucket list along the way.”

Bobby looked at Bun and wondered where his wife went. She looked like Bun but she didn’t sound like Bun because this sure as hell wasn’t something Bun would ever consider doing.

Bun’s way too much of a creature of habit.

Bun has a hard time just trading in her car for a new one because she has separation anxiety and is too attached to her things. While most people get excited about getting a new car she doesn’t.

So, sell all our stuff?

Yeah…right…okay.

Must be a joke. Or maybe Bun bumped her head and isn’t herself.

Maybe Bobby didn’t hear her right.

Either way, Bun didn’t mean it.

Temporary moment of insanity that’s all.

But…the thing is…Bun did mean it.

Now, we know this is the extreme way of donating our time and serving. However, because of the type of people we are, we’ve allowed all the stresses and comforts of life to prevent us from doing the important things that matter to us. Without the burdens of material possessions, everyday responsibilities and stresses, we felt a door of endless possibilities could be opened. Possibilities of inspiration, personal growth and service to those in need.

Now, this is not an easy process for either of us.

Bun is a creature of habit and change is definitely not her best friend.

She is also a recovering control freak. In fact, control might be her middle name. What could be more scary for a control freak than giving up control? Of course, we all know that none of us really has control of anything.

But the control freaks of the world actually think they can control certain situations and outcomes. And material possessions have long been Bun’s security blanket.

So this is a major step outside her comfort zone.

And Bobby has always believed that his material possessions have determined his status and success level in life.

You know…the more you have, the more successful you are.

He, like Bun, is also a recovering control freak.

He likes to be surrounded by his favorite things and his work space is kinda like his own little private world, one where he can get inside his head and let the creative vibe flow. So, with no material possessions and work space, Bobby is left with facing some pretty tough challenges.

…But we’re ready and up for this mission…

We’ve got skills.

Yup, that’s right.

We’ve got skills that, we feel, can help a person, family, organization, small business…you get the picture…out.

Now, we’re no super heros.

We’re, in fact, just everyday folks with a strong desire to help.

It doesn’t take any real “special” skills to lend a hand and help our fellow humankind out…it only takes heart and the desire to serve. But, some of the stuff we’ve done and our personal experiences might be beneficial in certain situations. We’re also good with the simpler things like handing out pamphlets for a charity during an event at a booth. After all, raising awareness is key and an important task for charities. But we’re also not afraid of hard work and getting our hands dirty so we’d like to be put to work wherever we’ll be most useful. We just want to lend a hand!

So, whatever the situation is and whoever it is that would like a hand from us, here’s what we bring to the table.

We’ve worked together as a team for many years now. I guess you could say that Bobby is the creative mind and Bun is more of the organizer and technical part of the team. With the experience from different positions each of us has held we bring a variety of useful and helpful experience and knowledge to the table.

Bobby has been self employed for many years now. Prior to becoming self employed, Bobby worked in various sales positions throughout the years. Bobby is also quite knowledgeable in marketing (both traditional and internet), web and blog design, writing and graphic design.

Bun has worked in various office positions and is a licensed Real Estate Salesperson. Bun loves to organize. Whether it’s organizing files, a messy room or an event. Bun likes efficiency. Bun organized many fund-raisers for our daughter’s softball team. Together, along with the team’s family members, raised money that allowed girls to play softball that otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford it.

We were both very involved in our daughter’s youth sports activities. Bobby coached and Bun was the Team Mom/Manager of our daughter’s traveling fast pitch softball team, which we formed and organized. Many springs and summers were spent organizing fund-raisers, coaching and managing the team, organizing softball tournaments and just enjoying the memories we were making with the softball team and their families.

We each have causes that are near and dear to our hearts and will be serving these causes and others during this mission.

Bun’s causes – topics of interest:

• Hunger: Bun is a huge believer in ending hunger in our country and world. She feels that there isn’t a human being on this planet that should go hungry.




• Domestic violence: Bun, herself, is a victim of domestic violence from a previous relationship and would love to do whatever she can to break the cycle of abuse.




• Homelessness: Bun has a huge passion for serving the homeless in any capacity that she can.




• Health: Overall health, health care, fitness and healthy diets are passions of Bun’s.




• Obesity: Don’t really need to explain this one. I mean c’mon…it’s killing our country.




• Environmental issues and the impact it has on our planet and our health: Bun believes that our health and the health of our planet go hand in hand. The sicker we get the sicker our planet gets and vice versa.




• Food and Product Safety: Bun has many concerns about the chemicals used in food packaging, beauty and everyday household products.




• Alcoholism/Addiction: Very near and dear to Bun’s heart.




• Animal Rights: Bun loves animals and would love to serve an animal group.




• Plastic use: Bun will jump right on her soapbox about this topic. It’s a touchy one.

Bobby’s causes – topics of interest:

• Cancer: Bobby, cancer survivor himself, understands the fears, frustrations and loneliness that is felt by someone with cancer. Very near and dear to his heart are children with cancer. Because of this, Bobby along with Bun would like to volunteer as clowns in a children’s hospital to bring a little happiness into a child’s life. We are hopeful that a professional clown or clown school will find it in their heart to train us as clowns to help make this possible.




• Make A Wish Foundation: Bobby would love to volunteer time to this organization in each state we visit.




• Teenage Depression: Bobby would like to serve this cause and feels he can relate to it.




• Gang Activity Outreach: Bobby would like to help and show youth involved in gangs that there are other choices in life.

Together, Bun & Bobby, share these causes – topics of interest:

• Habitat for Humanity: We would like to work with this organization.




• Small Businesses: Together, we both, share an interest in helping small businesses. Having been in business and going through the ups and downs of being a small business owner, we are passionate about helping the small business population survive before it’s too late and we become extinct. We understand how difficult it is to keep your head above water, compete and thrive in today’s world. We would like to volunteer our time, experience and knowledge to small businesses and hopefully help them prosper.




• Youth Activities: We believe our kids need to become more active. Whether it’s through sports, the arts or just playing a game that includes some form of physical activity.




• Underprivileged Children: We would like to reach out to children living in unfortunate situations and help in any way we can.

So, again our mission is simple.

Travel across the United States and volunteer/donate our time wherever it’s needed and to causes that are important to us in the communities and states we visit. Be our navigation system by letting us know where help is needed and how we can serve as we roll through communities state by state.

The mission is simple.

What won’t be simple is the change.

So please come along for the ride.

Be a part of our away-from-home-extended-family and watch while two control freaks give up control.

Watch us grow as people, struggle, argue, cry, laugh and most importantly serve.