Bubba The Love Van Tour for Mental Illness
Donation protected
The Bubba The Love Van Tour for Mental Health is a provincial, and eventually, national tour to generate funds and raise awareness for mental health. It was created by Ralph Bryant, author of Shackles Lost: The Poetry Mixtape and a third-generation sufferer of mental illness.
Bubba the Love Van is a 2005 Chevrolet Express that has been converted to live sustainably, including a composting toilet and solar panels. Ralph hopes to spend much of the next year detached from the world - focused on creating and healing and growing. He hopes to plug out of the digital space and have "real" conversations with mental health advocates as he travels across the country (and where distancing allows), using poetry and prose to bring people together wherever he travels.
"We have all been impacted by mental illness in some way, and our biggest mistake is the silence we keep as if it will go away," said, Ralph, a father of two boys, who will join them for a leg of the tour. "We will never move forward until we have the courage to speak openly about our struggles." Ralph plans to begin the tour the first week of May and tour progress will be updated regularly.
Bubba the Love Van is named after his mother, Linda Bryant, who was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic at 15 and died when she was only 46 years old. This year marks the 25th anniversary of her death and Ralph promised during his own stay in the mental hospital at Joseph Brant Hospital. "When she was dying I asked if she had any regrets - and she said "Only one; I wish I saw more of the world. With Bubba the Love Van, she can see the world through my eyes."
Your support will be used to cover the travel costs for the tour, specifically gas, food, and campsite lodging. Proceeds of the Bubba the Love Van Tour also will support Samehere Global, a movement to normalize the mental health conversation, Habitat for Humanity - Niagara, and the Canadian Mental Health Association, Niagara office, which has been providing mental health services for over 50 years.
All donors will receive either a weekly newsletter directly to their inbox, updating tour progress and poetry and prose created during the journey. Depending on the donor level, donors will receive a completed e-book, paperback, or hardcover after the tour. To thank donors for their contributions, they will receive free e-book copies of Ralph's current books, Shackles Lost: The Poetry Mixtape, Lady Ms. Sneezy’s Most Unfortunate Covid Snot Assault, and Senses.
People and businesses can also make in-kind donations of travel-related resources (air and gas miles, food and travel vouchers, park memberships, etc), and support on the road with unique places to visit and park, and create links with schools and mental health organizations.
Bubba the Love Van is a 2005 Chevrolet Express that has been converted to live sustainably, including a composting toilet and solar panels. Ralph hopes to spend much of the next year detached from the world - focused on creating and healing and growing. He hopes to plug out of the digital space and have "real" conversations with mental health advocates as he travels across the country (and where distancing allows), using poetry and prose to bring people together wherever he travels.
"We have all been impacted by mental illness in some way, and our biggest mistake is the silence we keep as if it will go away," said, Ralph, a father of two boys, who will join them for a leg of the tour. "We will never move forward until we have the courage to speak openly about our struggles." Ralph plans to begin the tour the first week of May and tour progress will be updated regularly.
Bubba the Love Van is named after his mother, Linda Bryant, who was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic at 15 and died when she was only 46 years old. This year marks the 25th anniversary of her death and Ralph promised during his own stay in the mental hospital at Joseph Brant Hospital. "When she was dying I asked if she had any regrets - and she said "Only one; I wish I saw more of the world. With Bubba the Love Van, she can see the world through my eyes."
Your support will be used to cover the travel costs for the tour, specifically gas, food, and campsite lodging. Proceeds of the Bubba the Love Van Tour also will support Samehere Global, a movement to normalize the mental health conversation, Habitat for Humanity - Niagara, and the Canadian Mental Health Association, Niagara office, which has been providing mental health services for over 50 years.
All donors will receive either a weekly newsletter directly to their inbox, updating tour progress and poetry and prose created during the journey. Depending on the donor level, donors will receive a completed e-book, paperback, or hardcover after the tour. To thank donors for their contributions, they will receive free e-book copies of Ralph's current books, Shackles Lost: The Poetry Mixtape, Lady Ms. Sneezy’s Most Unfortunate Covid Snot Assault, and Senses.
People and businesses can also make in-kind donations of travel-related resources (air and gas miles, food and travel vouchers, park memberships, etc), and support on the road with unique places to visit and park, and create links with schools and mental health organizations.
Organizer
Ralph Bryant
Organizer
Grimsby, ON
