PRINCETON — When Kandi Perry offered several people a Seat on the Bus, it was not a literal bus. But that “bus” was taking people on a journey that included helping out others, especially those affected by the pandemic and those with medical concerns.
The bus itself was painted on the side of Perry’s Princeton basement and features images of individuals who contributed.
For Perry and artist Gayla Bieksha, the COVID break in activities was an opportunity to work on the project.
Missing live music while cooped up inside, Perry had sought to help local musicians who were essentially out of work.
The Seat on the Bus was “a music fundraiser where folks paid a fare, with the highest fare winning to have their image painted on a Volkswagen bus,” Perry said.
“Now that the mural is complete, I have an opportunity to keep giving back to those who gave me and my family’s life back and help those continuing the fight.”
The impetus for the bus came from medical issues her family faced.
“Being grateful for my family’s health and desire to support those who made that possible,” she said the concept initially grew from issues that she, her son and husband had gone through.
Perry grew up in Sterling and graduated from Wachusett, eventually moving to Princeton and building a home.
Her husband, Jim, was a Worcester firefighter when the Worcester Cold Storage building fire took the lives of six firefighters in 1999, including his lifelong friend Joe McGuirk.
“Even though I had always volunteered my time, seeing the community support for the W6 made me realize what an incredible community we live in, and I desired to give back even more,” Perry said.
She has been active with the local Boy Scouts, You Inc., Habitat for Humanity, and Shatterproof (suicide awareness), and organized local food pantry and Toys for Tots drives.
In 2006 she changed her career from tech sales to energy, allowing her more time at home, and eventually leading to her own business.
When her son was a freshman at Wachusett Regional High School in 2016, a football injury affected his spine, Perry said. After multiple hospitalizations, it was determined an infection was to blame. That was only the start of treatments, followed by a recurrence and new rounds of treatments.
With that over in 2017, Perry and her husband, Jim, both suffered from cancers, with treatments and surgery that went through 2019.
“All these illnesses took a tremendous mental toll on our family, but we made it through and honestly somehow it has brought us closer,” Perry said.
In March 2020, COVID shutdowns began.
“My personal and professional life is highly social, and I love live music. The isolation from COVID squelched both,” Perry said. “Interaction was Zoom and FaceTime. I supported my musician friends by donating funds I would have spent going to venues.
“They were so grateful, and said if I ever wanted them to play for a party, they would do it at no charge. Great, I said. I will keep that in mind.”
COVID Summer 2020 was hot and boring, Perry said.
“A couple of my girlfriends are art teachers, so they were off for the summer. They would visit me and my horse, safely distanced in my backyard. We started talking about painting a garden scene on the foundation of my walk-out basement.
“As the conversation progressed, an idea started to form: What if, instead of just a garden scene, how about a bus with a bunch of friends visiting?” Perry said.
“What if they paid a fare to get on that bus, and the money was donated to nurses taking care of cancer and COVID patients? COVID restrictions allowed for outside gatherings up to 50 people, and our ideas morphed to have an acoustic duo (Coalboilers) play music for 30 friends, and the bus symbolized them coming over for a party.
“Thoughts turned to action, and within a couple of months we had that party, and people vied for a seat on the bus,” Perry said “We raised $1,763 and donated it to Dana-Farber Patient Care” (danafarber. jimmyfund.org).
But work on the bus was not complete.
The summer of 2021 was spent getting the donor’s images on the bus.
“We had added two more bands, hired a grilled cheese food truck, sold pins, and in September 2021 we had the reveal party. With COVID restrictions off, over 100 people turned out. We raised $4,600 for Dana-Farber Patient Care,” Perry said.
“We duplicated the event in 2022, and though quite a bit less was raised, split the $750 between Dana-Farber Patient Care and the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation.”
One of the bus riders battles Crohn’s disease and after surgery is in pretty good health today, she said.
The efforts included numerous people who contributed art, music and other assistance: Artist Gayla Bieksha; Mike Cove from Sterling donated portable potties; her neighbor provided off-street parking in their field; and musicians Charly Carrozo and Gary Backstrom, the Coalboilers, Way Up South and Gary Backstrom Band provided music.
Perry was able to get people involved during a time of social disruption and help others at the same time.
“I think my reputation for loving music and being fairly well-known for throwing a great party does the trick. I don’t like asking for help for private parties. I want my guests to have an experience they talk about for years to come and support each year,” Perry said.
The bus remains a feature that sums up the efforts.
“Gayla did all the painting. She would spend about four hours a person, then you have all the time on the background. She allowed help with the background (her nephew Ben added a few personal touches) but the people are all her. She took a picture of each person, used an app to turn it ‘cartoonish’, and free-hand painted. She is a very talented person,” Perry said.
People got to see the success of the fundraising but also their images on the bus.
“They LOVED LOVED it. Even my husband, who playfully wrote on his bid, ‘Jim Elie, Under the Bus.’ The artist incorporated it and everyone was asking who is under the bus?”
The concept of “paying for a seat on the bus” added an element of fun to the entire effort. “It was difficult at first for folks to understand the concept. Then they saw the empty bus on the wall and bidding was on,” Perry said.
Thus far the efforts have raised $7,113.
And the efforts are not fading away.
“I have booked the bands for September 2023. I post the charity links for donations and also put out signs with bar codes to donate. As soon as I have those, I will post on Facebook. I do the inviting through Facebook and plan to do so again next year.
“Other bands that see me heard about the success and how much fun people had and volunteer to play. It’s a challenge to turn them down,” Perry said.
“Now that the mural is pretty much complete, T-shirts are planned for 2023, and that should help with donations.”
There may be only 12 people “on the bus,” but there are far more involved, donating and benefiting from the music and the funds raised.
