A hospital bed.

A Kroc Center membership.

A life transformed.

This story belongs to Ari Buntain, who, with a little help from Press Christmas For All and Charity Reimagined, is taking back her life.

Buntain, 59, of Post Falls, moved from Houston to North Idaho in 2015 to care for her aging parents. Just more than a year later, her dad passed away.

It was devastating.

"I’d look at him across the room and have a conversation with him, no words said," Buntain said. "That’s how close my dad and I were."

This marked a downturn in Buntain's own health.

"That's when I started putting on the weight," she said Wednesday, seated in Post Falls Food Bank executive director Leslie Orth's office.

Buntain had battled with weight gain and was doing well, but was again struggling after her father's death.

"It just kept climbing, and then it’s like, ‘I can’t hardly walk,'" she said. "Something’s gotta be done."

Buntain got up to 330 pounds and developed diabetes.

“That’s when I knew for sure I had to do something,” she said.

Press Christmas for All appeared on Buntain's radar after she met Orth, who serves as a referring partner for the charitable program. Buntain had not been working a paid job but was watching her grandson. In 2019, she requested a hospital bed from CFA.

“She was sleeping in a chair,” Orth said.

Unable to lie flat, Buntain dreamed of having a hospital bed that could move the head and feet independently. Providentially, Orth happened to know someone with a gently used hospital bed that would be perfect.

“I remember when you told me that you were able to get me a bed, I sat here and cried,” Buntain said to Orth. “I was in love with that bed the day it got delivered to me. That bed has been a lifesaver."

In working with Buntain, Orth and Charity Reimagined founder Maggie Lyons put forth a request of Buntain — to invest in herself and get a Kroc Center membership. Before the bed arrived, Buntain was going to the Kroc each week.

"I was exhausted,” she said. "But I was trying."

When COVID hit and everything closed for a while, Buntain missed exercising in the pool.

“Let me tell you, that water works you out,” she said.

Buntain didn't renew her Kroc membership, and didn't have the means to have it reinstated. Her 2020 CFA ask was simply to get back to the Kroc.

"Being a Kroc member has made a huge difference," Buntain said. "I can actually get out. I look forward to exercise. Even if it’s just walking in the pool, that’s exercise and it keeps me motivated."

Last September, Buntain underwent gastric bypass surgery to help shed some weight and assist in her health goals.

She has lost nearly 100 pounds and has energy again.

"I can bend over and pick stuff up off the floor," she said.

Buntain, with the encouragement of Orth and Lyons, has taken on the challenge of investing in herself and living a better life.

"It was because of what you did that that happened,” Orth said to her. “You made an investment in the Kroc, you committed to going, and the bed followed. That was your doing."

Buntain's new fitness goal is to weigh 160 pounds and run around in the park with the grandson she adores.

She is grateful for the encouragement and help, and said she loves how the CFA program is structured now.

“They may not help as many people, but they get them what they need, or what they think is going to help them," she said.

Lyons and Orth celebrate Buntain's accomplishments and continue to provide encouragement as she enjoys a happier, healthier life.

“The talents and gifts that she has have been so unleashed because of this new life she’s discovered,” Lyons said.