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Connellsville woman helped by mission group

By Joyce Koballa 3 min read

CONNELLSVILLE – For the first time in seven months, Bonnie Runion will be able to leave her home without having to call a local ambulance company thanks to 28 volunteers from a New Jersey mission group. With the help of the Neshanic Reformed Church in Hillsborough, Runion received a handicapped accessible ramp this week constructed off the front porch of her West Crawford Avenue residence.

“I’ll probably cry the first time I go out,” said Runion, who plans to depart by a scooter purchased by the United Cerebral Palsy Association.

The church group is part of a program called People Under Mission to People (PUMP) coordinated each summer through Connellsville Community Ministries (CCM).

Runion’s ramp was one of four projects the group undertook for the week in the area while another church group from Baltimore, Md., is poised to return to the city next week for the 14th consecutive year.

According to the Rev. Terry Guiste, CCM executive director, the projects in need are referred to the organization through various county agencies or by direct calls based on those with special needs or with limited incomes.

Guiste said CCM then matches the project to the group’s skills while various churches in the area house the volunteers during their stay.

While 19 projects topped this year’s list, Guiste said 15 would probably be fulfilled since they are based on priority. The projects begin in June and run through August.

During their stay, the Neshanic church members were divided into four teams that were successful at completing two roofs in Dunbar and Brownsville and two handicapped ramps in Connellsville, each working between six and eight hours a day.

This was the Neshanic team’s first visit to Connellsville and it’s fourth summer work project, according to minister Dave Hill.

Hill said the projects are two fold being that the group helps out the community while growing from their experiences.

Nicole Domanski, Neshanic church member and volunteer, said she has learned something new each year that she’s been involved from replacing a roof to hanging drywall.

“It’s also fun for us to get to know them,” said Hill of the project recipients.

Runion, a former Licensed Practical Nurse, said she became disabled in 1994 after she was diagnosed with having suffered a stroke 19 years earlier. “I worked for 12 years after that until I found out,” said Runion.

Since that time, Runion said her health has pretty much deteriorated to the point that she has come to rely on her 87-year-old father, Elmore Runion.

It wasn’t until last year, however, that Runion became bound to a wheelchair following other health conditions that kept her hospitalized at times.

Before that, Runion said she was capable of driving and used a walker for assistance.

Runion said she was homebound from December to June and took advantage of that time to crochet 634 hair scrunchies and put together puzzles.

Over Thanksgiving, Runion’s brother paid her a visit from Ohio and gave her a computer.

Runion said being confined to her house for that long has given her a taste of cabin fever not to mention “chickencoopitis.”

With some physical therapy, Runion said she hopes to gain some strength back in her legs to she can get back in the swing of things. “I can’t wait to go outside,” added Runion.

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