Tiffany Lane
The Enquirer-Journal
704-261-2229
By Tiffany Lane
Staff Writer
Monroe
Two years ago, Donna Gray’s 5-year-old came home from school to find his dad in a coma. His father had had a stroke and Donna Gray wasn’t home from work.
When she walked in the door moments later, she immediately dialed 911.
“If I hadn’t been there to tell the paramedics about his condition, they wouldn’t have known what his condition was because they couldn’t wake him up,” she said. Her husband, who is disabled, has had five strokes in seven years. When it happens, it’s hard for him to communicate.
Since then, Gray has taught her son, now 8, what to do if he comes home to find his dad “asleep,” but she recently found a way to take further precautions.
Shawn Bondy of Charlotte is the founder of ID Button Inc. A couple of years ago, a 2-year-old was lost in Bondy’s neighborhood, and it took hours to find his mother.
Soon after the incident, Bondy came up with the idea to engrave ordinary clothing buttons with a person’s name, phone number, blood type, allergy or a medical alert so dependent persons won’t lose the information. If there’s an emergency, those nearby will know what to do.
“ID buttons speak for those who can’t speak for themselves,” said Bondy, who has a brother with cerebral palsy. His mother died from Alzheimer’s.
Gray also has a 20-year-old mentally handicapped son with velocardiofacial syndrome, or VCFS. Characteristics of VCFS include a cleft palate, heart defects, minor learning, speech and feeding problems and extreme mood swings.
Gray said it’s easy to upset her son, who then storms out of the house. Even though she goes right after him, sometimes he gets away from her or hides.
“We always worry,” Gray said. “If something happened to him without any ID, no one would know who he was.”
After Gray lost her job in September, she e-mailed Bondy with interest in his products and to see if there was a job opening. Before she was laid off, Gray worked as a glass etcher for a corporate business.
Although Bondy dyes all the buttons himself, the engraving is done out-of-state. He couldn’t offer
her a job, but decided to give her some free buttons, along with a Walmart gift card for Thanksgiving dinner.
“I like to find a need,” Bondy said. “And when I find that need, I try to find a sponsor in order to pay for that need.” He’d like to establish partnerships with nursing facilities, group homes, police departments, church groups or alteration shops within Union County.
“It’s been such a blessing to our family, and we thank God for it,” Gray said.
She recommends the buttons for all children in case they ever wander off in a store or get lost. “Anyone who has a child knows you can’t keep your eye on them every second of every day,” she said. Plus, the buttons are cheaper and more practical than medical alert bracelets or GPS systems, Gray said.
A person’s medical condition might constantly change, she said, and, “Not everyone can afford a GPS system for their child’s shoe.”
Bondy added that the buttons aren’t “prone to the error of application.” His 7-year-old son has engraved buttons on his Cub Scout uniform.
Buttons come in 11 and 16 millimeters, and are available in black, white, red, navy, pink, aqua and glow-in-the-dark. Caregivers can have them engraved with any information they choose.
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