Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in the group!

"RANDY 'BERT' HUNT, of the Svensen Hunts, grew up in 'slough country' with a congenital heart defect," CAROL NEWMAN told the Ear.  He is pictured with his dog, HARRY.

Living with Tetralogy of Fallot has been quite a challenge. He got his first defibrillator in 1994, and he's writing a book, Bert's Box: Wired for Life, that combines his experiences with both the heart condition and growing up in Svensen.

His goal is to inspire those who have, or know someone with, a life-threatening illness, or who are in need of a "dose of courage." But that's not all. "Randy absolutely means for it to be a regional memoir," said his wife, CAROLINE TAYLOR, "for everyone in Clatsop County and the Pacific Northwest to enjoy."

"I read excerpts," Carol told the Ear, "and found them very engaging, well written, informative and full of local material."

Even though Randy started the book in August, it has been hard to concentrate on writing while being a hands-on painting contractor at the same time. A man on a mission, he stopped painting and now dedicates all of his time to the book. Here's where you can help:  Randy is seeking funding to "buy time" to keep writing through a campaign on the Kickstarter website.

To donate, go to http://tinyurl.com/randyhunt.  North Coasters: Here's your chance to be a patron/patroness of the arts. If you would like to help this aspiring local writer, please donate  by 6 p.m. on May 26.

"Randy's book really is going to be a local treasure," declared DEBBIE TWOMBLY. "I hope it then goes farther."

# # #

Onward to glory!  The only thing I would change in that wonderful article is that Randy hasn't completely stopped painting---because he can't. But the more funds that are raised through this campaign, the more time he has to devote to the book, and the faster it gets finished.  

We're within $169 of the $6000 goal (WAHOOOOO! Thanks again to repledgers and newbies!)  We're shooting for $8000 by May 26, which will give Randy two full months of writing. 

THANKS FOR REPLEDGING IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY.  That link in the news article works great!  

Caroline on behalf of Randy and the BB campaign.

Sorry for hiatus! Time out for caring for my parents' estate and the associated drop in (emotional) sea level.  It always brings me up short. Thanks for patience!

Okay, here are the current stats at 21 days left to go:

There have been 31 repledges among you original 59.

There are 6 entirely new people (whom I will thank publicly in a new-campaign Update).

I know that those of you who haven't repledged yet are busy as heck but still want to do so, because so many of you have said so, and because you believe in Randy and his mission. SO (you lucky souls), I'm also sending you each a private reminder. =:D

I do need to start working solely from the new campaign (Bert's Box: Wired for Life, as opposed to Bert's Box) with these Updates; so I'll wait till Sunday evening to allow potential repledgers to come through (and thereby be included in the new-campaign Update software) before I switch over completely to the new campaign. 

I don't want to leave anybody out---you're an integral part of this community---so if you haven't repledged yet, I'll copy and paste Updates into private emails to you. But please repledge as soon as you can by clicking here.

I'm determined to get Randy off his painting ladder and into the basement to finish Bert's Box: Wired for Life. (I think it's a spectacular waste of talent for him to be painting; plus [a little secret] it continues to scare the h*ll out of me---think arrhythmia and unconsciousness on high. Even the few seconds it takes for his box to kill the rhythm is not good.) 

As usual, I've gone on too long!  Hope you're all well and thriving.  And thanks to the ends of the Universe for your love and support. It has changed our lives (more on that later).

Caroline & Randy

Sorry for inconvenience of update duplicates. Just delete when you get them.  

C

Randy's KMUN spot was a huge success.  He looked and sounded just great up there, though he doesn't remember a thing.  Here's a picture:

Great, huh?  He's going to do another interview on the KMUN Arts & Something (Debbie T.?) show down the line a bit. I'll let you know.

There are 31 repledges and two new people, Casey Bushnell and Millie Engel (those of you who've repledged will get an Update #1 from the new campaign, with congratulations to them in it. When everyone has repledged who said they'd like to, I'll only have to send out one Update, through the new campaign (hint hint =:D).

We're more than halfway to the goal!!!!  AND my heart is shooting past it to $10,000, so if you'd like to join me in vibing on that a little bit----splendido!

Let's keep up the early momentum! We want to steam through the station at full speed and shoot 10 miles past the depot.  Share/comment/like stuff we post on Facebook, email likely supporters, tweet and retweet, give links out to all comers ( http://kck.st/IILWlg, www.bertsbox.com ) whatever comes naturally to you. And if you have any questions or feedback, let me or Randy know: huntbert@comcast.net or ctplayword@gmail.com

THANKS AGAIN.  

Caroline & Randy

No pledge money is being added up on that campaign. It's dead. You've been disconnected from it.

Randy's sister Teresa just pointed out to me that some of you might be wondering why it says under your name in the backers list: "You are backing 2 projects," when you're only backing 1.

Or you might be hesitating to repledge because it already says under your name "You are backing 1 project," when you're not back anything yet.

Not to worry!  The first Bert's Box campaign is not functioning in any capacity; it's not registering pledges or card numbers or anything at all.  It IS letting me send the 59 original backers these updates.  But that's all.  Kickstarter cut off the campaign the minute it ended. It sent everything back to zero.

So if you see "You're backing 2 projects" under your name, and you know you're only supporting Bert's Box: Wired for Life, that's as it should be; i.e., you're only backing the one project.

And if you're seeing "You're backing 1 project" under your name, and you haven't repledged yet, that's also okay. When you do repledge, it will say that you're backing 2 projects, but you are in fact only backing one.

Sorry for the overkill explanation.  I just wanted to be reassuring and clear. Did I succeed?  Thanks for patience.

C