LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. — Erica Enderle bent over the crib of her severely handicapped 10-year-old daughter Macy, lightly brushing her hair.
“Hi, sweetheart,” Enderle said to Macy, the child Enderle credits with starting her on the path where she is today – the single mom of seven adopted children – many of whom have special needs.
On this day, Enderle has some special news for Macy – the family is this year’s winner of Schloegel Design Remodel’s Big Splash Bathroom Giveaway.
This is the 11th year Schloegel has selected the family of a special needs child to award a bathroom makeover – a major change for families who long for bathrooms where a wheelchair can fit through the door and tubs and showers specially designed for someone who can’t use their limbs.
Enderle, a former social worker, who thrives on helping kids in need, has known for years that her bathrooms needed upgrades that she will likely never be able to afford. She took us on a tour of the upstairs bathroom of her Lee’s Summit home.
“It’s very small, very cramped,” she said. “There’s a whole lot of banging on the door and, ‘hey get out. It’s my turn.’”
Then there’s the downstairs bathroom that Macy uses. She is blind and has epilepsy and cerebral palsy. Since the door is too narrow for Macy’s wheelchair, her mom has to carry all 65 pounds of her inside.
“I just gave her a shower last night, and it’s extremely difficult,” said Enderle, who is single.
Schloegel has promised to remodel both her bathrooms for free. Plus the Kansas City company and several of its vendors are also planning to fix some other troubling issues in her home, including some dangerous electrical wiring.
The scope of the work is almost overwhelming for Enderle who was nominated for the Big Splash Giveaway by a Missouri social service agency.
She said she’ll never forget the phone call telling her that she’d won.
“I remember just being so full of emotion,” she said with her eyes filling with tears.
Being the recipient of so much charitable work has been hard for her to accept.
“I feel like I should be giving something for all this,” she said. “Or paying something to them.”
Schloegel’s Chris Peterson, a co-owner, said it’s exactly selfless people like Enderle who make it an honor to help.
“You know some of these families go through more challenges in a typical day than most of us do in a typical month,” Peterson said. “So if we can reach out and do a little bit to give back, that’s what it’s all about.”
Amanda Jackson, executive director of FOX4’s Love Fund for Kids, said the Big Splash Bathroom Giveaway has been a God send to special needs families across the Kansas City metro.
“These families are ecstatic,” Jackson said. “It has eliminated such a critical need for them.”
Work on both of Enderle’s bathrooms will be completed this summer. FOX4 Problem Solvers will be back to show you the difference hard work, craftsmanship and generosity can make.
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