Staff photo / Bob Coupland Champion resident Savannah Grimmett, 9, a fourth grader with spinal muscular atrophy Type 2 and who uses a wheelchair, needs a ramp to get in and out of her two-story home. An Easter fundraiser is planned to assist her family. With Savannah is her mother, Bonnie Grimmett, left, and Danella Monsman of Warren, who is coordinating the Easter-themed fundraiser, Egg My Yard.

CHAMPION — This Easter season, fundraising and other efforts are being made to help a 9-year-old girl and her family get a wheelchair ramp for her home.

Savannah Grimmett, 9, a fourth grader who is home-schooled and learning virtually, and who will return in the fall to Champion Central Elementary, has spinal muscular atrophy Type 2 and uses a wheelchair.

Bonnie Grimmett said there is no straight entrance for Savannah into the two-story house because there are stairs to get to the second floor.

“We are looking to get two ramps built at the back of the house that would lead to the back door on the second floor. Her bedroom, the kitchen, the living room and the bathroom are on the second floor. Her whole living space is up here,” Grimmett said.

She said the ramp would make it easier for Savannah to come and go on her own.

“Right now, I carry her on my back in and out of the house, and up and down the steps but she is getting too tall for that,” Grimmett said.

She said the ramp will allow Savannah to get up and down onto the back patio and then enter and exit the house through a sliding door that leads to the kitchen.

“If there is an emergency, she will be able to come in and out on her own. Right now that is something she can’t do and what we are worried about,” Grimmett said.

Grimmett, who works from home, said Savannah can’t go outside to play with her siblings while she is working because it’s dangerous.

She said when she is not working, she takes Savannah outside.

“I want to give her what any child her age deserves, which is to be able to get outside and play,” Grimmett said.

Danella Monsman of Warren, who is coordinating the effort with an Easter egg fundraiser nonprofit called “Egg My Yard” said Grimmett reached out to her. Monsman founded the fundraiser six years ago.

Monsman’s daughter, Krista, also uses a wheelchair and will be 15 this year and attend ninth grade at Warren G. Harding High School.

“Bonnie and I both had appointments for the girls at Akron Children’s Hospital, where we first met. I saw an SMA sticker on her van, and we both started talking and both girls had SMA Type 2,” Monsman said.

She said independence is so important for children.

Monsman said a wooden deck ramp of 70 feet in length would cost between $5,000 and $10,000. She said she is working with a company that plans to construct the ramp.

Grimmett said Savannah can propel herself in the wheelchair.

“I want her to have as much independence as possible so she has power assist wheels on her wheelchair. We want to maintain the muscles she still has and prevent them from decaying,” she said.

Monsman said she has more than 20,000 plastic eggs filed with candy to be placed in more than 200 yards and a few churches for Easter. She and a crew in six to eight cars will go overnight Easter eve into Easter day placing the eggs on yards

In 2025, the fundraiser was placing more than 33,000 eggs in 537 yards in Trumbull and Mahoning counties.

Monsman said some yards may have 25 to 50 eggs, while some have a few hundred.

“We start at 8 p.m. on Saturday and work all through the night and have it all done by 8 a.m. You never know what the weather will be like. I have stories,” Monsman said.

When children wake up Easter morning they will have a yard full of candy-filled eggs from the Easter Bunny

Grimmett said she was so relieved when Monsman was able to help Savannah.

“I have always been really independent but I didn’t know how to do this on my own. I did not know how I could afford a ramp on my own. My daughter has a medical condition that is restricting her mobility. Whatever she needs has become more and more expensive. When I reached out to Danella and she said she would help, I was in tears,” Grimmett said.

Monsman said children helped by the fundraising in past years needed the funds for a ramp, wheelchair vans, a seizure monitor and a bed.

“Because she has low bone density and her bones are fragile, she can get broken bones easily. She has experienced broken bones in the past,” Grimmett said.

The order deadline for the eggs is March 28. Costs are 25 eggs for $25,. 50 eggs for $45, 75 eggs for $60, and 100 eggs for $70, with orders over 100 accepted. There are multiple payment options available

Contact Danella or Makenzie Mosman at 330-647-0673 or on Facebook at Inspiring A Difference.