In a South Jersey town, Hope A. Bounds is so much more than a mannequin

Sara Joy Kuhlen built a mannequin and named her Hope A. Bounds to amuse Audubon, N.J., kids during the long, hot, pandemic summer.

She didn’t expect that a lady with legs made of swimming pool noodles and a wig stand for a head would become a local celebrity.

“Hope does look lifelike to a degree, so I decided to have a Facebook page for her. That’s where the whole personality thing came in,” said Kuhlen, 38. She responds in Hope’s character to messages posted by her 200-plus Facebook fans, and also expresses Hope’s cheerful thoughts or uplifting themes of the day.

“I created her so kids walking by the house would smile,” said Kuhlen. “But the adults in town seem to be gravitating toward her.”

Said fan Sandy Johnston, 70, an artist and longtime borough resident: “There’s so much negativity right now that it’s nice to know you can see something positive. She [Kuhlen] is so creative! And Audubon is such a close-knit town, I’m not surprised this is happening here.”

A music therapist, Kuhlen lives in her childhood home on Chestnut Street with her husband, Matt, and their two children. She got the idea that became Hope after the pandemic hit in March, closing her kids’ schools and disrupting her therapy practice. “Spring was very stressful,” said Kuhlen. “It helped having a creative outlet to focus on.”

She undertook the painstaking task of designing and fabricating from scratch a six-foot-tall mannequin, mostly using recycled or repurposed materials — such as the plastic toy balls that help Hope’s joints function.

Kuhlen had never taken on such a project before. But she has a methodical streak that came in handy during many trial-and-error periods having to do with Hope’s body parts.

“I wanted her to be fully pose-able,” Kuhlen said. “I didn’t want her to be unable to lift her arm and wave.”

Hope made a low-key debut June 1, “just sitting in a chair next to the peach tree and waving,” said Kuhlen. She continues to enjoy sitting, smiling, and waving, but is also an action figure: Doing a headstand yoga pose one day, hitting a shuttlecock with a badminton racket on another, and even bowling.

Hope posed with Chinese takeout containers during Restaurant Week, and promoted the borough-wide yard sale as well as a local food drive. Sometimes she holds signs or wears clothes bearing messages about causes such as Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ pride, and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

But Hope isn’t big on partisan politics. “I don’t want her to be polarizing,” Kuhlen said.

Hope certainly is versatile, however, having impersonated Elvis, Darth Vader, and Bruce Springsteen, as well as a 1920s flapper and a high school graduate tossing a mortarboard skyward. Hope borrows many of her outfits from her creator, and models a fabulous array of wigs in many hues.

Coming up with themes, assembling outfits, and finding or arranging props for a more elaborate tableau sometimes takes more than an hour. “But Hope has only missed two days since June 1,” Kuhlen said. “I would hesitate to call her a working girl, but I kind of figure this is her job. She’s out on the lawn for 10 hours in the hot sun.”

Hope also has a husband, named “Herman” (get it?), who was introduced to the public on Father’s Day. Herman relaxed on the front lawn in an arm chair, a remote in one hand and a drink in the other, clad in an Eagles shirt and gazing at a clunky old TV.

Despite the fun poses and the theme weeks, such as “Name That Tune,” Hope does have a few detractors. One individual even made suggestive comments (Hope informed him she is not that sort of mannequin). And one day, the young occupants of a passing car yelled “creep!” Kuhlen said she can understand that kind of reaction.

“If I were a single man setting this female mannequin outside on my lawn, that would be different,” she said. “And I don’t know what people are saying under their breath when they walk by. But there’s a reason Hope is out here. It isn’t just that I decided to put a mannequin on my lawn.”

Ann Haeffner, a teacher who lives in town, said she became a huge fan once she understood what Hope is about.

“She’s trying to cheer people up, and it’s wonderful,” said Haeffner. “When she was collecting food, people got together. It was something happy to think about, something happy to do."

Steve Radie is the founder of a grassroots group called Audubon Peer-to-Peer AID, for which Hope publicized a food drive that yielded bags full of groceries for families in the borough.

Hope, Radie said, “lightens up the mood of the town. She takes your mind off everything else we’re dealing with as the world collapses around us.”

Hope will remain on daily duty only through Labor Day, and on weekends through Nov. 1. But Kuhlen promised that fans can look forward to seeing her again during the holiday season. “On Hope’s wish list,” she said, “there’s a Santa suit.”