Also in this issue: - The Bonaire Reporter

or the second year in a F row, part-time Bonaire
resident Bonnie Pascoe has
brought over 100 “Beanie Baby”
bean-bag dolls to Bonaire to be
distributed to less privileged
youngsters on the island. The
small dolls are part of a collection
that Pascoe had created for
her grandchildren, who have
since outgrown them.
“It seemed like such a waste to
have the dolls sitting around and
not being enjoyed,” said Pascoe,
whose collection totaled over
400 before she started bringing
them to Bonaire to give away.
Last year and this year Pascoe
turned the small bean-bag dolls
over to Jong Bonaire where teens
in the youth center’s KREBO
program gift-wrap the dolls and
then host a party for small children who
have been selected by the social services
department. This time the Beanie Baby
party will be in early January.
The Jong Bonaire KREBO program is
made up of teens who each year learn about
caring for small children and then in the
summer work in the many vacation programs
on the island. According to Jong
Bonaire manager Jona Chirino, “The
KREBO program lets the teens consider the
idea of someday working in a krèsh
(nursery school) or becoming a teacher.
And it helps them learn how to deal with
small children so that they will all be better
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Bonnie Pascoe and her “babies” at Jong Bonaire
parents. The donated dolls give the teens a
chance to volunteer to help families who
have fewer resources,” Chirino said. “It’s
good for them to be able to volunteer and
give something to others. It is very generous
of Bonnie Pascoe to share these dolls
with our children.”
Pascoe says she has enough Beanie Babies
for one more year of gifts to the Bonaire
children. “Then my collection is gone.”
But she feels good about giving the dolls to
children who can enjoy them and says: “It
feels very good to be able to do something
for the children of Bonaire.”
Story & photo by Jane Townsend
New Stock
New Styles
Men, Women and Children
Kaya Grandi 29
Kralendijk
Phone 717-5107
Page 12 Bonaire Reporter December 19-January 2, 2009