School bus driver Billy Vennard disguised as the Easter
Bunny helps school bus driver Brigette Knight load meals for kids on the school
bus Thursday.
WELLSVILLE – It didn’t take long for Wellsville school bus driver Billy Vennard to hop to it when he learned that kids wouldn’t be seeing the WLSV Radio Easter Bunny this year due to the Coronavirus social distancing rule.
Vennard, of Bolivar, has been driving Bus 47 for the
Wellsville Central School District since Dec. 4th and was hired full time in
March.
“I was driving home when I heard that the radio station had
decided that they weren’t going to do their annual Easter Bunny visits because
of the order for social distancing and I got the idea of dressing up as the
Easter Bunny when I deliver meals to the kids. I ran it past my boss, and it
was approved,” he explained.
Vennard is one of the cadres of Wellsville School bus
drivers who have been delivering daily breakfasts and lunches to kids
sheltering at home
The problem was that Vennard just couldn’t pull an Easter
Bunny costume out of his hat and he had only a few days to find one. There is
no school on Good Friday. Two days’ worth or nearly 200 breakfasts and lunched
had to be delivered on Thursday.
“With everything being closed there was nowhere to get a bunny
costume,” Vennard said.
Vennard’s need was posted on Facebook and caught the eye of
an old friend, Gina Gluck who Vennard had once worked with. She offered her
bunny costume.
“I can’t thank Gina Gluck enough,” Vennard said.
Since the Coronavirus shutdown, Vennard and his cohort
Brigette Knight have been delivering nearly 100 meals each day at six or seven
stops along the Stannards and Hallsport roads.
Knight has been a Wellsville Central School bus driver for
4.5 years and said she’s happy to be delivering the meals to kids. She also
dressed up in bunny garb to make Thursday’s deliveries.
“At the stops the kids are watching for us from windows and
porches. They wave at us and we wave back,” Vennard said.
A post of Facebook shows Easter Bunny Vennard hopping off
the bus and across a lawn and noting that the kids were excited to see the
Easter Bunny.
“This is a really great job and I’m happy to be making
things a little better for the kids during this time,” he said.
