Welcome Everyone!
Help us band together to provide more accessible spaces for our incredible
12-year-old Niece and Goddaughter, Rose!
Along with so many of you, Shannon and I have watched Rose grow into an active, compassionate, fiercely witty, social, and spirit-filled young woman. Rosie truly loves people and brings her gifts of joy and positivity into every room she enters. However, not every room she approaches is so easy for her to enter; Rose was born with Spina Bifida and, as a result, has been a full-time wheelchair user since she was very, very little. While other kids her age were learning to toddle and walk, Rosie was teaching herself how to “push-roll-stop-and-tilt” in a small Bumbo wheelchair that her dad built for her (using a plastic cutting board, L-brackets, swivel casters, and 12-inch non-latex tires!) Rose has outgrown two conventional, kid-sized wheelchairs since those earliest days and very recently transitioned into her first adult chair! With a new, larger chair – now more than ever – Rosie needs thoughtfully adapted, dignified spaces in her home that allow her to safely navigate the mobility challenges she encounters there daily.
As she enters her teenage years,
Rose is craving something every young girl deserves:
independence and privacy in her personal care routines.
Rosie’s parents, Sean and Charity, recognize that their family’s current bathrooms present more obstacles for Rose than solutions. The spaces are filled with real, physical barriers: narrow doorways, extremely tight layouts, a completely inaccessible shower stall, a garden tub she can’t use, toilets that are too low, vanities that have no room for her legs, and inconvenient fixtures that make bathing and toilet routines difficult and physically risky to attempt on her own. They have taken what steps they could to improve the situation for her, even going so far as to “saw-zaw” the face-front and doors off one of their bathroom sink bases that was restricting her access! Her two younger, autistic brothers, Johnny (9) and Richard (8), help her as much as they can, but the larger issues remain as problems to be solved.
The Goal: Adapt Rosie’s Bathroom Spaces
Together, Sean and Charity have created a comprehensive plan to transform their main bathroom into a fully-accessible space for Rose, while greatly improving her access to the family’s smaller, secondary bathroom and increasing her overall safety in their home. The vital structural changes proposed are designed specifically for Rosie’s physical freedom, independence, and well-being.
The project’s scope is, frankly, well beyond Sean and Charity’s combined DIY skills and, without assistance, it would be far too complex and costly for them to undertake on their own. Providentially, a generous local contractor has stepped forward and offered to manage the project for them. This happy development will significantly reduce the total cost of the project, while also streamlining the demolition, build, and finish process.
Their renovation plan includes these essential elements:
• A “Roll-In” Shower: The current enclosed shower stall and unused garden tub will be removed to create room for a new curb-less shower. This change, along with the installation of a wide fold-up shower seat and grab bars, will allow Rosie to roll directly into the large, open shower space, transfer from her chair, and bathe herself safely – with as few restrictions as possible.
• A Split Double Vanity: A new, purpose-built, double-sink vanity will be configured to include a lower, ADA-height countertop on Rosie’s side. This will allow her to wheel under the sink to brush her teeth and wash her face alongside her family. A similar adaptive vanity will be installed for shared use in the family’s second bathroom.
• Chair-Height Toilets & Grab Bars: New, taller toilets with grab bars will be installed in both bathrooms. This will allow Rose to make confident, safe, independent transfers in either space.
• Large-Format Tiling: Extra-large matte porcelain tile on the floor and walls will be used to ensure smooth wheelchair transitions for Rose, to reduce daily maintenance, and to provide optimal waterproofing for the room.
• Window Removal: To create additional wall space just off the new roll-in shower, the bathroom’s current over-sized garden tub window will be replaced with a fixed transom window above. This will allow for the placement of towel drying bars and clothes hooks necessary for all 5 family members, while continuing to allow natural light to enter the room.
• Walk-In Closet Door Move: To accommodate the new roll-in shower’s larger footprint, the master bathroom’s current walk-in closet doorway will be sealed off. A new walk-in closet entry door will be built, with access from the master bedroom.
• A New Direct Entryway: To give Rose easy access to the renovated space, a new 36-inch doorway will be opened from Rosie’s adjacent bedroom into the master bathroom. The master bathroom’s original doorway will also be widened to 36-inches, to aid Rose with clearance at that entry point, as well.
• A New Emergency Exit Door: A new 36-inch exterior door will be built off Rosie’s bedroom that will safely transition to a concrete pad and wheelchair path that leads away from the house. In the event of a fire, Rose will have immediate escape access to a secured, open travel area outdoors.
Hand-in-hand with Rosie’s parents and extended family, Shannon and I are asking for your help to make this project a reality for Rosie’s greater growth and independence!
Phases of Impact: Where Your Donation Goes
It is important to those of us behind the scenes that we be entirely transparent about where your hard-earned money will go: every dollar raised will be used exclusively to pay the skilled trades required and to purchase the materials needed to successfully complete this project for Rose. All contributions settle directly into a secure fund created expressly for this purpose.
Below is a brief outline of the three critical construction phases,
along with a breakdown of the campaign milestones:
Phase 1: Physical Access (Launch-$20,000): Covers the permits, structural engineering, demo, framing, blocking, and drywall work, the necessary changes to the plumbing for the new roll-in shower and main vanity, as well as cutting the new doorways directly from Rosie’s bedroom.
Phase 2: Waterproofing & Safety ($20,000-$40,000): Covers the advanced waterproofing required for a wide-open shower room, the slab demo and build of industrial sloping and linear drainage for the new shower footprint, the installation of large-format safety tiling, and the wiring of grounded electrical elements.
Phase 3: Ease-of-Use & Finish ($40,000-$50,000): Covers the two accessible vanity builds and installation, the chair-height toilets, fold-up shower seat, and location-appropriate grab bars, the recessed lighting, vanity mirrors, and exhaust fan, as well as the paint, towel bars, wall hooks, and other fixtures needed to fully complete the spaces.*
*Should this campaign be so blessed as to exceed the $50,000 fundraising goal,
every additional dollar donated will be earmarked and used for follow-up projects that directly facilitate
Rosie’s autonomy, safety, and well-being in and around their home.
Join Rosie’s Village
As a loving family and caring community,
we never want to leave anyone behind who could use our help.
Rosie gives so much love, humor, kindness, and grace to everyone around her;
inspired by her parent’s plan, now is our opportunity to give Rose
the gift of independence in her own home.
Whether you can donate $5, $25, $100, $250,
would like to sponsor a specific element of the larger project,
or are simply moved to share Rosie’s story with your own network
of family, friends, and colleagues, you and yours will be directly helping
a remarkable young girl wheel into her teenage years
with dignity and self-reliance.
No donation is too small…No inspiration is too large.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for choosing
to be part of Rosie’s village in whatever way you can.
With love and gratitude,
Patrick and Shannon Basile
May God bless you, in advance, for your consideration and support!
Most Sincerely,
Sean, Charity, Rose, Johnny, and Richard Wilcox