CHANHASSEN, Minn. — Most places have disabled parking spaces, but this does not necessarily mean that people who use a wheelchair can park.
Drilling and cutting and ordering parts, it’s a project engineer Brett Thorn never thought he’d be working on.
“I started in the garage building two-by-fours, whatever I could find,” Thorn explained to WCCO.
And now he has found purpose after seeing his beloved cousin Katarina in trouble. Thorn described a situation where she had to figure out who was parking next to her so she could park her car in the driveway.
The difficulties of navigating handicapped parking spaces are well documented. So Thorn, who was an engineer by day, went to work at night in his garage in Chanhassen.
“Katarina said, ‘if only there was something I could put on the side of my car to keep people from parking there.’ And I said I think I could do that,” he explained.
And he did. “Spot Saver” is officially on the market. Thorn said so far he has about 200 on backorder and has even heard from people as far away as Australia and Britain.
Spot saver
“That was actually a big surprise to me when I saw how many people responded to it, liked it and shared it. It was a pretty amazing response,” he said.
He and Katarina just received their first grant in hopes of showing more dignity to the world.
The Spot Saver costs $450 and is available online.
Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield
