Bonny is the product of creative minds and enthusiastic volunteers at Olympic Peninsula Bluebills and Volunteer Chore Services. These two organizations work together to help low income elders and disable adults stay in their own homes by making improvements in their property.
Bonny began life in the mind of Donna Jones, program coordinator for Volunteer Chore Services based in Bremerton. She regularly calls the Bluebills when there's a need to do home repairs that fall under the category of home safety, such as grab bars and railings. The Bluebills are pretty famous for their skills at building wheelchair ramps and there is a constant stream of request for their expertise in the three counties, she says.
Jones envisioned an attention-getting display for her VCS booth at the Jefferson County Fair in mid August-- "something that would make people stop as they went by our booth and realize what we are doing in the community.
Bonny Bluebill's fan club includes Eleanor Roden, chapter publicity chair; Ken Milovac, Bluebill, BCS volunteer and wheelchair maker; and Donna Jones, Catholic Community Services coordinator and doll maker.
"So we asked Myron Vogt if one of his Bluebills volunteers could build a ramp model. He said okay, if I could provide him with a wheelchair model he would find someone to build a ramp to scale."
"I always enjoy a challenge and set about looking for ways to come up with a wheelchair. After several dead ends, I ventured over to St. Vinnies and found a small wooden doll chair and a 5-inch look-alike Barbie doll, decked out in a cowgirl outfit. So I was on the right track. I scrounged a couple dollar stores until I found the perfect size wheels from a toy race car. I gave the chair, the wheels and a package of small Popsickle sticks to Ken Milovac. Ken is a Bluebill and a regular VCS volunteer. He created a good replica of a wheel chair. The wheels even turn!
"I stripped down little Barbie to her bare essentials and sewed her a skirt, gave her a new hair do, made her a hat and painted on some shoes. A few days later, we took our project to the OlyPen Bluebills picnic. With a little flourish we presented our client creation to Myron. True to his word, he himself built a beautiful ramp for this tiny model.
"Bonny is as happy as she can be now," Jones says. We are sure she'll get lots of attention at the fair-- and we're going to sign her up for future bookings, too."
In the years, Bluebills have built hundreds of ramps for people in Jefferson, Kitsap and Clallam communities, and the number increases each year. Jones adds, "We have tremendous respect for the men and women of the Olympic Peninsula Bluebills, for their help. They are making a significant impact on people who need help to maintain their independence and should be recognized for their achievements. We couldn't do this without them."