Saturday, July 15th - Extreme Makeover --- Home Edition: North Pole, AK

The following information was taken from the Press Release issued on July 7th

"EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION" TRAVELS TO NORTH POLE, ALASKA AND DELIVERS A LITTLE CHRISTMAS IN JULY TO A SINGLE MOTHER OF A THIRTEEN-MEMBER FAMILY

On July 7, Betsy Rogers of North Pole, Alaska, a single mother who has spent her life caring for others, heard the good news that she and her family will receive a brand new home in a remarkable seven days courtesy of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." This is the first time the designers are making over a home in Alaska and the whole team is coming down for the occasion!

The large Rogers family is well-known in their community for their selfless attitudes and strong morals. Every child excels in everything they do whether it is sports or academics. Betsy was raised in a bi-racial family, and later married into a bi-racial marriage; as a result, she strives to teach her family and community about diversity and respect for others. Betsy is a well-known and much respected figure throughout the community as she's a team mother for both the football and wrestling teams and a second mom to most of the kids in the area. She has passed these selfless values on to her children; her two eldest sons, Christopher and Jonathan went on a two-week mission trip to Honduras to help build homes for people who live in even worse conditions than they could ever imagine.

But the Rogers family has recently fallen on hard times. Shortly after Betsy's marriage ended, leaving the family in a difficult financial situation, Betsy's brother had kidney failure and began dialysis treatments. Despite her family's already strained living conditions, Betsy immediately invited her brother and his three children to move in with her family.

The newly-increased family of thirteen is crammed into the Rogers' current two-bedroom, ¾ bath home. The tiny house is literally falling apart around them: walls are separating from each other, windows are cracked and broken, the house has no foundation and the front door doesn't lock and can't even stay shut. Worst of all, the water-heater only supplies enough heat for one warm shower and the house is without insulation - these problems can create major health threats when the weather can get as low as negative sixty degrees in the Alaskan winter.

In this episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," Ty and the gang travels to North Pole, Alaska for a little Christmas in July to give Betsy and her incredible family the best gift any of them could imagine - a new home and a new sense of security.

While the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" design team, local builder Landmark,Inc., and hundreds of workers and volunteers are building the Rogers' a dream home, the family will go on vacation to Disneyland in California.

The episode, "Rogers Family," will air during the 2006 season.

The design team for this episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" will feature team leader Ty Pennington, as well Paul DiMeo, Preston Sharp, Ed Sanders, Michael Moloney and Paige Hemmis.

Four days after demolition

Michael Moloney

On Wednesday, Rachael and I took a drive down to North Pole to see what kind of progress had been made on the house. We didn't get a chance to see the demolition, nor the original house, but there sure was a lot of progress being made on the new home! Like many of the others who had come down to the site to watch progress, we were also hoping to catch a glimpse of some of the design team.

Both Rachael and I are huge fans of Extreme Makeover - Home Edition, and the show never fails to reduce us to tears when the deserving families see their new home for the first time. We don't know the Rogers family personally, but read so many great things about them. It was a great experience to go out to the site and see so many volunteers donating time and materials to make a deserving family's dreams come true.

We hung around that first afternoon for only about an hour, before heading off to run some errands. But we were hooked from that moment on and decided we'd go back the next day too, as well as for the big reveal on Friday.

On Thursday, the rain came. And it came in buckets at times. But there was a schedule to keep, and the volunteers kept on going as if it were a warm, sunny day. We stood in the rain watching for a short while, before heading back to the car and continuing on our way. In only 24 hours, we had seen some noticeable changes with the house.

Thursday exterior

And the rain came...

Buckets of rain.

On Friday, there were conflicting reports of when the big reveal was going to be. First we heard it would be at 2pm. Then we heard it would be at 8pm. Then 9pm...

Rachael and I decided to go down to the site at 5pm. When we arrived, there were already a lot of people present and claiming a good vantage point along the fence. We were able to find a spot only a couple of rows back from the fence. And then we stood. And we stood some more. For FIVE hours!

It was interesting to see how the show is filmed. The shots of the crowd cheering and screaming are filmed before the family arrives. Footage of the limousine pulling up are also filmed in advance. If you catch the airing in September, pay attention to the weather and see if there's a difference. When they taped the limousine footage, it was sunny. When the family actually showed up, it was starting to become overcast. I don't know if the weather change will be visible or not.

Finally, after hours of standing (oh my aching back and knees!), the news spread through the crowd that the family was on their way. When we saw the limousine come around the corner, a huge cheer went up from the crowd. And this time, when they opened the car door, the family did get out! The family members ran to the fence line - hugging and kissing family, friends, neighbors, and community. The look of joy on their faces was priceless. And they still hadn't seen their house because the big bus was still blocking their view.

They did a few 'takes' of the scene where the family and bystanders yell out "MOVE THAT BUS!" and finally, on the fourth or fifth try, the bus started up and rolled out of the way. The family went nuts! Some were cheering, some were jumping up and down, and some were crying. It was a very emotional moment, and I felt like I was a part of a truly amazing event.

This family is so deserving of this new home. Everyone I spoke to around me - friends and teammates of the children - had nothing but marvelous things to say about every member of the family. It was a very heartwarming experience, and I'm glad I was able to witness the progress of the build, and then the reveal of the finished home.

Paul DiMeo helps to carry a bear bed into the house	Paul DiMeo	Michael Moloney rallies the crowd	Ed Sanders rides to the site with the dining table
Ty Pennington on his way into the house	Ty looks deep in thought	Everyone loves Ty!	A very busy man
Filming the arrival of the limo	The family arrives!	Family members say hello to friends and neighbors.	Emotional moments
Saying hello to friends and neighbors	Saying hello to friends and neighbors	An emotional moment	Ty assembles the family to tape the MOVE THAT BUS portion
Last minute discussions	It's time to MOVE THAT BUS!	The family is overwhelmed	So much excitement!
More excitement and hugs	Hugs from Paige Hemmis & Paul DiMeo	Hugs from Michael Moloney	Hugs from Paige Hemmis
Preston Sharp	Ready to go into their new home	North Pole, Alaska