BUCKHANNON – The Band of Brothers has sold most of their calendars ahead of schedule during their 2022 calendar fundraiser.

Band of Brothers member Al Tucker said they currently have about 25 calendars for 2023 that have not been purchased or reserved, which means they are more than on track to reach their goal of raising $40,000. However, if you still want to buy a calendar — there are a limited number available — contact Tucker via Facebook or email at alanandliva@aol.com.

“We’re really excited because we’re going to have sufficient monies early in December, so we can get funds to all the different targeted groups that we have and now have more time to work,” Tucker said. “Last year, it was the middle of the month before we got the money, so that didn’t leave a whole lot of time to get presents distributed, so now everyone will have more time to do what needs to be done and that is very heartwarming.”

Tucker said on top of selling most of the calendars, they have received multiple donations.

“A person who buys a calendar may give us extra money, on top of the cost of the calendar or they may buy more than one calendar, and there’s a lot of people that give you the smaller amounts, but they add up pretty quickly,” Tucker said. “It’s exciting and allows us to do our work because we’re just the conduit, and it’s the generosity of people that allows us to reach out and make sure the money goes where it needs to be and fortunately, we have a really good group of people, providers that know their communities and know their needs.”

The Band of Brothers group plans to work with several local groups such as the Grandfamilies program and the Upshur Parish House, as well as other agencies throughout the state.

“The Underprivileged Children Foundation, Inc. is in Charleston, and they cover probably 20-plus counties and is just a fantastic organization that was started by an individual who was a foster child himself, so he knows what coming up in that environment is,” Tucker said. “We support a group called West Virginia Kids Count. We will help the Parish house, and we will help the Christmas store, as well as a couple of counties around us.”

This will also be the first year the Band of Brothers will work with the ACEs Coalition and according to its website, the ACES Coalition of West Virginia is an umbrella organization comprised of over 400 different organizations and advocates working together to improve the health and well-being of all West Virginians. They do that by trying to reduce the effects of ACEs, or Adverse Childhood Experiences, or to prevent them from happening in the first place.

The Band of Brothers has already sent $4,500 down to communities in Kentucky that suffered from recent flooding.

“We had a chicken dinner to raise funds for the flood victims in Kentucky; they were in a bad way for Thanksgiving, so we had people who were going down there and just bought a tremendous amount of food for the families in the community,” Tucker said. “It was heartwarming knowing that was coming about because when flooding was taking place in southern West Virginia, we heard about groups from Kentucky coming up and helping, so we just thought it would be nice if we could return that kind of love and support.”