CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Mardelle Gundlach will never forget the night of February 1, 2019.
"It looked like the Titanic with lights," she recalled. "There was 12 inches of water everywhere. It was crazy."
The Project Manager was the only one on staff that night inside the 32,000-square foot, 22-guest-room home in Chicago's Hyde Park.
"The whole house was damaged. The dry wall had to be removed from the entire house. It was a big pipe in the bathroom that blew the whole bathroom apart. When I went to the room, I couldn't even open the door from the pressure. It just filtered out everywhere," Gundlach said.
Eight months and $3.1 million in repairs later, a grand reopening was held Tuesday for Ronald McDonald House in Hyde Park.
"It took kind donations from our beds, to our appliances to our electrical work, to really get this house open. We're grateful for our donors, our construction and design firm."
"We are thrilled to get this house house back open today after what has been an incredibly long, eight month journey," Buckendahl said.
"It's not complicated what we do. These are kids fighting for their lives. When people are sick or have a loss, you bring food, you help out with their kids, you do things for them. We're just stewards of the resources that the community gives us so we're grateful," Buckendahll said.
There are five Ronald McDonald houses in the Chicagoland area and 17,000 families have lived in the Hyde Park facility alone. Families will move back into the Drexel Avenue home next week.