In a real-life “Eight is Enough” story, Malibu couple Michael and Kim Bonewitz and their three children—True, Joy and Spirit—welcomed five more children into their family last year—twins Stasi and Niki, Ari, Ariana and Athina Jordanou after their mother Marie died from cancer.
Kim Bonewitz and Marie Jordanou had got- ten to know each other through the Juan Cabrillo Elementary School PTA. When Marie was diagnosed in June 2012 with terminal stage four lung cancer that had metastasized to her brain, Kim agreed to take her children when the time came.
For nine months following Jordanou’s diagnosis, Michael and Kim Bonewitz took her for doctor’s appointments, tests, surgeries and medical treatments. The family also got to know the five Jordanou children during that time.
When Marie Jordanou passed away in February 2013, the Bonewitz couple lived up to their promise and initiated the legal process to become the Jordanou children’s foster parents.
Steve Weinberg said the Bonewitzes “are extraor- dinary, real life heroes who stepped up and made a huge difference in the lives of these children—not for gain or glory, but solely out of compassion and human decency. They have no personal wealth, so everything they are doing is at a real personal cost, and it would be wonderful to let the Malibu community know that they could use some help.”
Cindy Short and Seth Jacobson wrote that after Marie Jordanou was diagnosed, the Bonawitzes were “taking her kids to see her at every turn, arranging for family meals the community helped with, moving into her house to attend to the daily needs of her children, working with insurance, mortgage, and other financial, medical and emotional issues for Marie and her five kids, ALL while still managing to run Juan Cabrillo’s PTA and caring for their own three children.”