To the rescue! Alabama lifeguards CARRY 95-year-old woman to her beach chair every day for a week after spotting her daughter struggling to push her wheelchair through the sand
- Dottie Schneider, 95, had been looking forward to her trip from Chandler, Indiana to Orange Beach, Alabama for months
- When her daughter Kimberly Waterbury struggled to push her wheelchair through the sand, a lifeguard took note
- He drove her down the beach in an ATV and carried her to a chair
- Other lifeguards took her there and back for five days, and Kimberly says they never made her mother feel like a ‘burden’
- The lifeguards also would not accept tips, saying: ‘All the pay we need is watching her smile’
A 95-year-old wheelchair-bound woman had an incredible vacation on Alabama‘s Gulf Coast thanks to some very helpful lifeguards who drove her down from her hotel and carried her to her beach chair.
Dottie Schneider had been looking forward to her trip from Chandler, Indiana to Orange Beach, Alabama for months — but when she and her daughter Kimberly Waterbury got to the beach, Kimberly had trouble pushing Dottie’s wheelchair through the sand.
That’s when the lifeguard on duty stepped in to help, offering to drive Dottie down the beach in an ATV before picking her up and placing her directly in her chair.
Dottie Schneider was visiting Orange Beach, Alabama from her home in Indiana and got some help to her beach chair from the beach’s lifeguards
AL.com reports that Kimberly was struggling to push her mother’s wheelchair through the sand outside the Holiday Inn Express where they were staying on their first day of vacation.
Shane Martin, the lifeguard on duty with Orange Beach Surf Rescue, noticed their problem and drove over in an ATV to offer help.
Soon he was driving her across the sand in the ATV before picking her up and placing her in a beach chair under an umbrella.
Over the next four days, Shane and the other lifeguards continued to pick Dottie up from her hotel, take down to her beach chair, and take her back.
‘Our guards have been instructed to try to help people out if they’re having a tough time,’ Brett Lesinger, beach safety division chief for Orange Beach,’ said.
He also said he told Dottie to ‘holler if the sun was too much.’
When the lifeguards saw Dottie’s mom struggling to push her wheelchair in the sand, they gave her a ride on an ATV – then picked her up and placed her in her chair
‘That was overwhelming,’ Kimberly said. ‘They were faithful. They were there. It made my mom’s whole trip.’
Though Kimberly was expecting her mom to be up for just two or three days at the beach, she ended up spending all five days there thanks to the helpful lifeguards.
They also refused to accept tips, telling the women: ‘All the pay we need is watching her smile.’
Kimberly called the experience ‘magical,’ describing it as better than Disney World.
‘We are forever indebted to the guys with Orange Beach Surf Rescue. They made my mother feel special,’ she said, breaking down in tears. ‘She was not made to feel like she was a burden on anybody.’
Last week, Orange Beach Surf Rescue posted about Dottie on Facebook.
‘Lifeguards are public servants and we could not be happier to help provide this service,’ they wrote.
‘We are forever indebted to the guys with Orange Beach Surf Rescue. They made my mother feel special,’ Dottie’s daughter said
Last week, Orange Beach Surf Rescue posted about Dottie on Facebeook. The post has gone viral with thousands of shares, likes, and comment
‘Ms. Dottie Schneider recently visited us here in Orange Beach at the age of 95 in hopes to enjoy the beach but was unable walk through the sand on her own.
‘Every day for one week, lifeguards would meet Ms. Dottie and her family to help assist her down to her beach chairs then at days end escort her back to the condo. The family thanked us in return with a fridge full of food at the end of the week,’ they said.
The post has gone viral with thousands of shares, likes, and comments.
‘What a very beautiful thing these young people did. Bless them for the happiness they brought to the lady and her family. Thank you for your kindness,’ wrote one.
‘What a wonderful way to help sweet Miss Dottie the ability to enjoy the beach. Such a great service and showing your compassion! May each of you be blessed as you were a blessing to her!’ wrote another.
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