Curt Mayer (second from right) hand a check for $3,564.17 for a playset for Kamille to Carol TeBockhorst with Make-A-Wish, while members of the Builders Club hold a plaque for their efforts. Photo by Sally Y. Hart

Members of the Washington Middle School Builders Club were presented a plaque Friday morning for their efforts to raise money to help a local girl get a play set through Make-A-Wish. Carol TeBockhosrt applauded their work with the Kids for Wish Kids program. The money raised paid to have a playset installed at the home of a six-year-old girl in Washington who battles a digestive system disease.

TeBockhorst shared Kamille’s intestines grew outside of her body in utero and she had to be born eight weeks early and had emergency surgery. The intestines could not be saved and she has only eight inches of her small intestine, while the average child has 12 feet of small intestines. She describes a day in the life of Kamille begins around 6:30 a.m when she’s disconnected from two machines, which provide her extra nutrients and she takes five to seven kinds of medicine, including antibiotics. She can’t eat dairy, sugar, or anything high in fiber. Kamille does go to school with her home nurse, but can’t participate in P.E. Class or recess. Once she’s home she has some play time and tries to eat dinner, but always by 7 p.m. Kamille is hooked back up to her machines, as she has to be on them 10 to 12 hours each day.

TeBockhorst said the Washington club set the bar high, raising the most in the state with $3,564.17. Kamille’s playset was installed last week and she and her sibling are enjoying the slide and sandbox.