Ronnie's the kind of person who takes a call in the middle of the night from a friend who needs to talk. She loves to dance and paint and she has an understated grace that her friends admire.
"She's a really good friend," said Monica Kieler, a Temecula woman who got to know Ronnie through her sister. "I've never heard anyone say anything bad about Ronnie."
Chante Warner, a Murrieta resident, picked up the thought, saying, "If someone said, 'Ronnie, I need you.' She'd be there."
It's for those reasons, and many others, that Warner, Kieler and a host of Ronnie's friends gathered together around a table in the dining room of a Murrieta home Wednesday to make bracelets, strands of beads and decorative baubles that they are selling to raise money for her medical bills.
For the last three weeks, Veronica "Ronnie" Brundage of Temecula has been receiving treatment in a Chula Vista hospital for leukemia.
It's her third extended trip to a hospital in her relatively brief 22 years of existence, Warner said. When she gets back home Friday, she'll still face weekly trips for chemotherapy and monthly trips to a specialist.
To help her cover those medical costs, her friends have been making bracelets that they sell in local shops and through a dedicated website: www.ronniestenderheart.etsy.com. Warner's husband, Jesse, also set up a blog for Ronnie that details her recovery and the bracelets project: ronniestenderheart.blogspot.com.
Last week, the project got a kickstart when the owner of craft site WinchesterLambourne.etsy.com contributed $100.
Shortly after that, the orders started coming in.
As of Wednesday, the Ronnie team had made 150 "random acts of kindness" bracelets and sold 50 at $5 a piece. They also have collected donations totaling $600, a good portion of the way to their end goal of $1,600.
Some bracelets are simple strands of "hippie beads" and the others are more creative, baubles surrounded by beats and knots for spacing. There's even some bracelets for guys, including a Green Bay Packers-themed bracelet for a football-loving cheesehead.
So what's it about Ronnie that has sparked this outpouring?
"She's the nicest young person you'll ever meet," said Laurie Allen, a Murrieta resident who met Ronnie in crafting circles. "If anyone had met Ronnie, they would be diving in."
Others said they were moved by her struggle.
"It's amazing, the faith she has in healing and her positive attitude," Warner said.
From her hospital bed, Ronnie has been getting updates on the project and she's wearing two specially made bracelets on her wrist.
If the project raises enough money, Warner said she'd love to help Ronnie cover her bills and have there be enough left over so she could go shopping for clothes.
"Something extra nice," Allen added.
Call staff writer Aaron Claverie at 951-676-4315, ext. 2624.
