A Polk County family of seven went from scraping pennies to winning thousands of dollars.
Just last week, Willis and Mary Bunch of Lakeland learned they were the winners of a national contest through the Doorway To Dreams fund, which was sponsored by The MetLife Foundation and JP Morgan Chase. The Bunches were eligible because they bypassed the rapid tax refund and took part in a program that splits their refund in two, part for savings and part checking.
Holding off on a refund and choosing to save wasn’t an easy choice for the Bunch family, as they were technically homeless. Last year Willis Bunch lost his landscaping job.
“We lost everything all of our furniture and everything had to leave the house the way it was,” Bunch remembered.
The seven of them were forced to spend nine months living in a single hotel room.
“To us that was our jail cell. It was like prison to us,” Mary Bunch said, remembering how they tried to hide the children from hotel staff because seven people weren’t allowed to stay in a room.
The family wanted out fast. And a rapid refund at tax time could have gotten them that since Mary had gotten a manager job at McDonald’s. But they chose to stick it out another month and save up by going through the United Way of Central Florida tax preparation program.
Ultimately, the reward was far greater.
They’ve now got $25,000 from a national United Way contest, which they won from a nomination that explained they would use the money to buy a minivan.
“It’s not so much stress- so much worry anymore,” Willis Bunch said.
They plan to use the money for the van, a trip to Legoland and donations to some organizations that supported them along their journey. What’s left is going in the bank.
“I don’t want to end up in the situation again it’s like a lesson learned ya know,” Willis Bunch said.
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