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Online campaign aims to help injured South Surrey bartender

Bonnie Mills will be off work for weeks after back surgery
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An online fundraising campaign has been launched to support Bonnie Mills, a bartender at South Surrey’s Sawbucks Pub, who recently underwent back surgery. (Contributed photo)

Friends and colleagues of an injured South Surrey bartender have come together to help her and her family get through the holidays.

Bonnie Mills, a bartender at Sawbucks Pub, had surgery this month for a deteriorating, bulging disc that left her in too much pain to work for weeks, despite acupuncture, decompression and chiropractic work.

Now, even after surgery, it will be another two months of recovery before she’s able to return, said friend Arlene Martell, who is spearheading fundraising efforts through an online campaign (www.gofundme.com/bonniemills).

Sawbucks is also collecting on site, 1626 152 St. So far, the fundraiser has raised $925 of its $5,000 goal.

Martell knows as well as anyone the pain the mother of four is going through – she suffered a similar injury about two years ago.

“Oh my gosh, the pain is just unbelievable… the nerves get pinched, and the pain just never goes away, and it goes all the way down your legs to your feet. And in Bonnie’s case, and mine, it was so severe that you actually go numb (in your legs),” she explained.

Martell said the pain was especially tough for Mills because, as a bartender, she’s on her feet for hours at a time. Being off work for an extended period of time has put a financial strain on her, and with holidays right around the corner, Martell got the idea for a public campaign.

“Everybody knows Bonnie at the pub – everybody loves her,” said Martell, whose husband James does marketing work for the pub.

“When I texted her to let her know we were doing it, she cried. She said, ‘You have no idea… I’m maxed, just completely maxed.’ She’s been doing this for the last two months on her own, but she knows she has two more to go.”