Easter Bunny has local assistant

The Easter Bunny is alive and well and living in Las Vegas. This bunny goes by the hip name E Bunny, a fact noted on her personalized license plate.

E Bunny makes the holiday a little brighter for needy children by dropping off filled-to-the-brim Easter baskets at two local charities.

For the past 14 years, Barbara Kenig, who owns and operates In the Public Eye, a public relations firm, has been E Bunny to hundreds of children.

Her efforts started back when she lived in Detroit and her son was 3. He asked if she was the Easter Bunny and she assured him she was.

"My husband's nickname for me is Bunny so my son heard that around the house a lot," Kenig said. "Here I'd just told him I was the Easter Bunny, so I thought I'd better deliver."

She did deliver. That year she delivered dozens of filled Easter baskets to children who would otherwise have nothing for Easter. Over the years, the effort expanded to where she called on friends and neighbors to help coordinate things, pick up items donated by businesses and assemble baskets.

Boy Scout groups and art classes were enlisted to help put baskets together and about 15 adults regularly stepped up to the plate each year to lend a hand in the final days before each Easter.

Not every visit to the shelters went as planned.

One Easter, a theater student donned a bunny costume to hand out goodies. The oversized rabbit had an effect on the kids. They took one look at her, shrieked in alarm and ran to hide.

Now that Kenig's son is 17, he still believes in E Bunny. He believes in her so much, he works alongside her to assemble baskets and call area businesses for donations.

Each year, E Bunny gave out more baskets. Each year, the need for even more baskets was recognized. Only once did E Bunny find herself with too many baskets.

Those eight baskets did not go to waste. Kenig took them to a hospital and gave them to pediatric patients.

When Kenig moved to Las Vegas five years ago, she brought the tradition with her. A member of Temple Beth Sholom, she pointed out the "E" in E Bunny fits with her Jewish name, Esther.

E Bunny's baskets always contain candy, of course, but also toys -- coloring books and crayons, sidewalk chalk, Hot Wheels, Barbie dolls -- whatever was donated that year. Bubblemakers were always a popular item and are now a mainstay of the baskets.

Kenig also makes sure each child receives a cuddly stuffed animal of some type. Candy can be eaten in a day but a "cuddly" provides hugs to poverty-stricken children all year long, she said.

When companies hear the reason for requested donations, they often agree to help. One year Kenig was given hundreds of Ty Beanie Babies. A company in New Jersey that makes gift items, Russ Berrie & Company, regularly sends items children would like.

Kenig has been known to supplement donated items with items she buys out of her own pocket. Sure, she could just go a $1 store to buy things "but that's not what E Bunny is all about," she said.

The two charities E Bunny concentrates on are the Las Vegas Rescue Mission on Bonanza Road just west of Main Street and the Las Vegas City Mission on Fremont Street. She chose them because they operate without the help of major sponsors and struggle to provide for the needy.

Last year, a grandparent stopped at the Las Vegas City Mission, got baskets for her two grandchildren and quietly left them on their doorstep. Then she called their house and told the children to go look on the porch. Two huge baskets were waiting.

The kids screamed, "Mommy, you locked the Easter Bunny out."

Companies like Ethel M Chocolates, Costco, Colorworks, Target and Sam's Club regularly donate items to E Bunny's cause. Sam's Club has been especially helpful by providing preassembled and gift-wrapped baskets. Each one retails for about $25, she said.

The preassembled baskets are appreciated because, in Las Vegas, Kenig does not have extra hands to help put them together. So these days she asks businesses to provide baskets assembled and wrapped and ready to be handed out.

Each year, Kenig's efforts begin in earnest in mid-February but, in the months prior, she keeps her eyes and ears open for any opportunity to solicit more baskets. Her garage fills up until there's barely room for her gold Santa Fe SUV with its distinct license plate.

Last year, E Bunny handed out more than 200 baskets to needy children in Las Vegas. This Easter, she expects to hit the 400 mark.

She is always looking for volunteers and can be reached at 498-9808 or via e-mail at barbarakenig@aol.com.

"It started out as a cute joke," Kenig said. "But to see those children's faces, it's turned out to be very rewarding."


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