ROCKSTAR VOLUNTEERS

Nick Simmons is pushing a wheelchair.
Saying…
I’m practicing for when Dad gets older.
Dad still gets on stage…
Rocks the costume & makeup.
And rocks.
So I think he’s OK for a while.
Nick and Gene Simmons are volunteers on a Mending Kids mission.
The missions are usually in Africa or Central America.
This one’s in Beverly Hills.
20 kids.
20 free surgeries in one day.
In LA.
It’s our Hometown Mission.
On a mission…
I try to keep the surgeons in M & Ms & toilet paper.
This is easier in Beverly Hills.
In Ethiopia…
You have the toilet paper you brought.
If you didn’t bring enough…
You’re literally…
Shit out of luck.
In Beverly Hills my big job was a pizza run.
And fun with the kids.
Nick and I were hanging with Abigail.
This six year old had been in a car accident 3 years ago.
She still has glass in her face.
Half her life…
She’s had glass in her face.
And I’m searching for Demerol if I have a splinter.
After surgery Nick told her she looked like Professor X from the X-Men.
She tried to give him a mind blast.
The mission is a blast.
People act like charity is a chore.
I’m a charity whore.
Nothing I’d rather do.
It gets me out of my own head.
Like a mind blast.
One of the kids who had surgery is staying with me.
Werkeneh (don’t even try) lives in Ethiopia.
But he’s kind of a rock star in Malibu.
He’s been here many times.
For many surgeries.
When he first came here he had 10 pounds of tumors on his hands.
10 pounds.
Doctors in Africa wanted to amputate his hands.
Our doctors removed the tumors.
Now he has casts on both hands.
The whole bathroom situation could be tricky.
But he told me he can work the remote.
So I have high hopes for the potty.
Werkneh (if you really want to try it’s… work-ken-awe) is like the poster kid for Mending Kids.
A kid who could have died a painful death in a far away place.
Yet he’s here with me trying to work my TV.
Even in bandages…
and pain…
His light is brighter than the TV.
Gene hung out with Werkneh before his surgery.
After I showed him a photo of Gene is his KISS makeup.
Werkenh said either…
“That’s crazy”
Or
“He’s crazy.”
Sometimes it’s hard to tell with the accent.
Since I know Gene…
I’ll go with “He’s crazy”.
But our crazy rock star was a damn good volunteer.
He got there early.
And his son stayed late.
Nick pushed Werkeneh around in his wheelchair.
More practice.
Now when Werkeneh tells me he has to use the potty…
I’ll be missing my rock star volunteers.