Posted: Friday, October 16, 2009 12:20 pm | Updated: 11:29 am, Wed Oct 21, 2009.
By Peter Adelsen Perspective staff writer padelsen@kokomoperspective.com | 0 comments
The clock is ticking closer to ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" fulfilling a deserving Kokomo-area family's dream of a new home.
Nearly a thousand people packed the auditorium at Oakbrook Community Church Friday morning for a pep rally to motivate the volunteers prior to the television show arriving on Wednesday.
Along with Hallmark Homes, the custom-home builders for the project, contractors and various volunteers was the television show's executive producer Conrad Rickets who came to the event.
"I think this was great," said Paul Schwinghammer, the president of Hallmark Homes. "I thought it was good for Conrad flying in just for this event. We were honored to have him here and I thought it was a great turnout for a Friday work day for people and everybody is excited and some people are coming in from out of state."
Rickets has been involved with "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" since its beginning seven years ago.
"What we are looking for are heroes," Rickets said. "People, who give back, inspire their community and make a difference."
Since the show's start to now, the community involvement has gotten so large, he said.
"It started off with a couple hundred people coming out to help," he said. "Now it's somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 people that are coming out to help. I think what this show does is it reminds everyone the greatness of our nation."
In good times and not-so-good times people continue to volunteer their time helping a deserving family, he said.
"We find ourselves especially in these economic times that things are out of control and that we have no control of our life anymore," he said. "I think the reason why we have so many people show up is in that moment they realize that they do have control, they can make a difference and those are powerful, powerful things for us as a nation and for us as individuals."
Even with the outpouring of volunteers for next week's event, there are still some holes that need to be filled. The home is in need for interior furnishings, some electrical supplies and some more sod, Schwinghammer said.
With Friday's pep rally over, the next step in the process will be arrival of the show's host Ty Pennington to the lucky family's home on Wednesday.
"We have a countdown clock on our Web site that's making me a little nervous," he said. "Now we are four and a half days away until the door knock and then it starts the next day."
Hundreds of people have already signed-up as a volunteer, but if anyone wants to still volunteer they can go online to hallmarkextreme.com, Hallmark Homes CEO Derek Wilder said.
Events coming up at the chosen home site are:
On Wednesday, the actual address and map to the house will be present on the Web site, hallmarkextreme.com.
During the week of the build, there will be a food bank drive at the build site to benefit local food pantries.
At 2 p.m. on Oct. 24, there will be a charity auction and all of the proceeds will benefit the family.
From 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Oct. 25, will be Family Day. There will be a live circus, with food and activities for all ages.
Also on Oct. 25, there will be a Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the site. All who donate blood will receive a free Mike's Express Car Wash (first 500) and a commemorative T-shirt.
http://kokomoperspective.com/news/article_ba1ba268-ba70-11de-a007-001cc4c03286.html
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