Community rallies to help longtime Wheeling volunteer

For more than 30 years Dave Bunda has been giving back to his community, but now he is the one needing help from his friends.

Bunda, who’s helped hundreds as a volunteer, member of Knights of Columbus and minister to the homebound through St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Wheeling, is waging a fight against acute leukemia, said friend and Wheeling Village Trustee Dave Vogel.

“He doesn’t have great insurance and he’s a member of the parish and a member of the Knights, so we knew we wanted to do something to help him,” Vogel said.

Vogel will be joining the rest of the Knights of Columbus in hosting an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner to raise money for Bunda’s medical expenses from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, June 1, at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, 181 W. Dundee Road.

Tickets to the dinner are $10 for adults and $7 for children under the age of 10.

Knights and friends of Bunda will be serving spaghetti, salad, garlic bread and dessert, as well as raffling off prizes.

Bunda was diagnosed in January and has been in and out of the hospital since for chemotherapy treatments. He may need a bone-marrow transplant in the future, said his wife, Chris.

“He wasn’t feeling well and it just really hit him,” she said. “He’s never been sick. All of these years he’s been fine and then all of a sudden this happens.”

Chris hopes to be at the dinner, but Dave, who is in the hospital with an infection, may not be able to make it.

Friends planned the fundraiser and then mentioned it to the Bundas, knowing they wouldn’t want to ask for help.

“It was really a nice surprise and I’m just so grateful,” Chris said.

Although much of their family lives out of town, including most of the eight children in their blended family, friends from the church and community have been calling, visiting and sending cards every week.

“It really helps boost his spirits,” Chris said.

Bunda has worked as a police officer in Cary, at a factory in Arlington Heights and for the past 10 years at Sam’s Club in Wheeling, while taking on larger volunteer roles in his free time.

He is trying to keep a positive and realistic attitude while battling leukemia, his wife said.

“He knows it can be cured,” Chris said. “But it’s also something he’s going to live with the rest of his life and it’s not going away overnight.”