THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 18, 1997 TAG: 9701180362
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 56 lines
Donna J. Mooney could barely sit still in her wheelchair Friday morning, sunglasses shading the bright sunlight and an afghan over her legs to cut the chill.
``Pinch me,'' said Mooney, watching from her front porch for a white van to come rolling down the street in the Burnetts Mill subdivision.
``There's the truck!'' she exclaimed, as she spotted Eston A. ``Ed'' Daughtrey in the vehicle that would make her life easier.
On behalf of the Peanut City Bassmasters, Daughtrey and Michael E. Simpkins presented the wheelchair-equipped van to Mooney, known as the ``Halloween Queen'' for the elaborate haunted houses she opens to area children.
On Thursday, area Lions clubs had brought Mooney a new wheelchair that offered more support than the one she had used since she was paralyzed by a gunshot wound 10 years ago.
``It feels like I'm gliding on ice in this chair,'' she said, proudly wheeling around on the porch.
After Daughtrey parked in her driveway, she rolled down the ramp and tried the controls. She backed onto the lift, dabbed at her left eye with her gloved hand, then pushed another button.
Many organizations and businesses have helped the 20-year-old club with this van and others the members have given away. A local business repaired the air conditioning on Mooney's van, another rotated the tires, another donated parts for minor repairs and a service station filled the vehicle with gas.
``We have put people in a van four times,'' said Simpkins, a charter member and twice club president.
All the vans have been used and in good condition or able to be refurbished. The most the 12-member club has had to raise through yard sales, raffles and a Peanut Fest booth has been $4,000. Once, a van was donated, and Mooney's had been returned by someone no longer using it.
Mooney, 37, shares her home with Melvin ``BeBop'' Demarest, her 15-year-old son and his two daughters, 11 and 10. And after school, she baby-sits for two other children in the neighborhood where they have lived for four years.
The corner house is known as ``the Kool Aid house,'' Demarest said, because so many children can be found there after school.
Mooney learned last week that she was getting the van.
``It was a welcome surprise,'' she said. ``We have a lot of kids.''
The fishing club gave the first van to Cheryl Bennett, who has spina bifida, in 1991. The next year, they donated one to Harvie Pittard, who had lost a leg to diabetes, and later, they gave one to Ann Epps, who has multiple sclerosis.
``The club is always wanting to help people in the community,'' Daughtrey said. ``And helping people like this really makes you feel good.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II/The Virginian-Pilot
Donna Mooney of Suffolk - known for her elaborate haunted houses for
kids - accepts a van from Peanut City Bassmasters. Between it and
the new wheelchair, given to her Thursday by area Lions clubs,
Mooney found her path a lot smoother.