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By Content Desk Distribution Service G'Nelle is still "in da shell." Mike Johnson's first bumper sticker auction, "Help G'Nelle Break Outta Da Shell," garnered a high bid of only $17.50, an amount that was less than the cost to list the auction on ebay. Determined to get G'Nelle 'outta da shell,' which represents the family's upstairs apartment, Johnson has listed the auction on ebay a second time, with a few modifications. "Help G'Nelle Break Outta Da Shell: Chapter 2," the nickname for the second auction, offers bidders the opportunity to purchase up to 1,000 bumper stickers featuring their slogan at a cost of $4.00 each. The previous auction afforded bidders an opportunity to bid on just one sticker. Johnson hopes that the new format will help him and wife Sherronda Ross-Johnson raise the necessary funds to move his disabled stepdaughter, G'Nelle Ross, 11, into a first-floor apartment or house. "Some potential bidders may have thought that $17.50 (the high bid) was an exorbitant price for a bumper sticker," Johnson said. Ross has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and mild-to-moderate mental retardation. She is unable to walk. Both parents have difficulty carrying G'Nelle, who weighs approximately 100 pounds, up and down a flight of over 20 steps. Living in a first floor apartment or house will enable G'Nelle to go outside, go to school, and interact with other children. Currently, G'Nelle is the house almost all the time. Johnson's auctions are based on a successful ebay auction created by another Virginia woman. In January, Tiffini Dingman-Grover placed her "Frank Must Die" auction on ebay to help raise funds for her son David's cancer surgery. "Frank" was the name David gave the tumor. Receiving nationwide press coverage, the auction closed with a high bid of $10,700 for a single bumper sticker bearing their slogan. David, 9, has since had the surgery, and is doing well. It is important to note that even though thousands of people "hit" Dingman-Grover's auction site, only 73 bids were placed. "We only received 340 hits on our auction site, and 13 bids," Johnson said. "We have to do a better job of getting the word out to people." Johnson hopes that once more people know about the auction, sales will improve. By the auction's close on May 10, he hopes to have raised at least $2,000. "I am determined to help get G'Nelle what she needs, and just as important, bring attention to the fact that in many cases there is not a lot of public assistance available for disabled children and their parents," Johnson said. "There are probably thousands of families like ours who feel that they have nowhere to turn. The children are in shells that limit their true potential. It's time to break those shells." Starting with G'Nelle's. |