Donald Trump's campaign draws dedicated volunteers

When she made a trip to Trump Tower in New York to be near him for his home state primary in April, he spotted her and told his security guards to let her into his victory party there later that day.

A photo snapped that morning shows Ranney and her candidate grinning and giving the thumbs up.

Ranney is not only a Trump superfan, she's also a forceful advocate and volunteer on behalf of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Since February, she has guided an ad hoc team of 50 volunteers who have made some 75,000 telephone calls to voters to preach the gospel of Trump.

The eclectic, unpaid group — she calls them the "Trump T-Birds," after her red Ford convertible — includes a cancer patient making calls from her bed and 13-year-old who spouts Trumpisms.

All candidates count on volunteers to make calls to voters, distribute literature and knock on doors.

For a candidate just now beginning traditional fundraising and woefully behind in building a staff of paid field organizers, this volunteer network could be especially vital when he faces presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton this fall.

Ranney, a 62-year-old thrice-married, beach-loving retired industrial engineer, is perhaps Trump's most committed volunteer.

With the primary nomination locked up for Trump, Ranney is starting to organize voter registration drives, acting on her gut instinct that he will inspire scores of people who have never voted to come out for him.

Ranney's T-Birds are a mix of ladies she knows in Myrtle Beach and Trump fans she's met on social media and in the front of the lines at rallies.

Ranney met Zach and his mother, Chula, at a Trump rally, and they've become some of Trump's most avid photographers, sharing hundreds of rally shots on social media.

Late in the decade, the party's highest elected official, Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, tried to persuade Trump to run for president on the Reform ticket and pointed him toward Ranney for advice.

[...] her dealings with Trump had made an impression, and she couldn't help but be delighted to see him descend his Trump Tower escalator last June and announce his bid as a Republican candidate for president.