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‘A+ dad’ built a wheelchair-friendly igloo for his 9 adopted kids with special needs

By Josh Magness

January 17, 2019 08:22 AM

Gregg Eichhorn built a wheelchair-accessible snow fort for his nine adopted kids, who all have special needs, so they could enjoy the winter weather in Cincinnati, Ohio. The igloo is a hit, the adoptive dad said.
Gregg Eichhorn built a wheelchair-accessible snow fort for his nine adopted kids, who all have special needs, so they could enjoy the winter weather in Cincinnati, Ohio. The igloo is a hit, the adoptive dad said. Screengrab from Fox19
Gregg Eichhorn built a wheelchair-accessible snow fort for his nine adopted kids, who all have special needs, so they could enjoy the winter weather in Cincinnati, Ohio. The igloo is a hit, the adoptive dad said. Screengrab from Fox19

For Greg Eichhorn, building a wheelchair-friendly snow fort for his nine adopted children with special needs just seemed like the right thing to do.

“It didn’t feel like a big deal,” the adoptive father from Cincinnati, Ohio, told Fox19. “All of our kids, since they came from different places, we love adoption and kids with special needs, that kind of stuff.”

But then, one of his friends posted a picture of the special snow fort onto Reddit, where it received over 70,000 upvotes and nearly 1,000 comments. People on the social media platform called Eichhorn an “A+ dad” and “my hero for this week.”

“Talk about making a difference,” another person commented. “When you do things like adopt kids with special needs and adapt everyday joys for them to experience, you create such a legacy. Truly amazing family.”

My buddy Gregg built this handicap accessible snow fort for his daughter from r/pics

Internet fame isn’t the goal for Eichhorn. Instead, it’s all about driving home the importance of giving a happy life to kids in need, he said.

“I think it’s really important that all kids with medical and special needs that are orphans have people to step up,” he told CBS News, “and provide them with homes.”

The Clovis, Calif., family of Bryan and Tamara Wong includes eight adopted children — seven with special needs — giving the clan “front-row seats to everyday miracles.”

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It took five hours for Eichhorn to build the snow fort, according to ABC News. But all that work was worth the joy of seeing the reactions of his two adopted children who use wheelchairs — 19-year-old Zahara and 9-year-old Elijah, the TV station reported.

“The kids and I were discussing while we were throwing snow around that we should make something handicap accessible so Zahara and Elijah could use it,” he told ABC News. “The kids jumped in and helped for a couple of minutes here and there as we built it.

He said Zahara “was excited to go outside and have people out there with her,” ABC reported, while Elijah’s “eyes opened instantly and you could see he was processing what was going on as he was surrounded by white.”

He added to ABC: “It was very special to see him process that.”

If you’re touched by his story, Eichhorn recommends finding a way to help children in need of adoptions themselves, Fox19 reported.

“Our family is getting kind of full and it would be great if people stepped up, took on the same roles and enjoyed the kind of joy that we do,” he said, according to Fox19. “Because yeah, we get a lot of joy out of life.”

Parenting adopted children with mental illness isn't always easy, a Middle Georgia mother of five says. But she thinks her children are more empathetic, because they understand what it's like to be different.

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