I have kept my MYSPACE account open for the last 3 or so years ONLY for the fact that I could not figure out how to move some photos I had on there to blogger! Well i just sort of figured out it, so here is my post from March 26, 2006- one of the days i worked for Extreme Makeover Home Addition, it was really cool!
First of all, here is the article on the family :
Having raised four girls and putting each through college, 60 year-old "Grandpop" William Py and his 57 year-old wife, "Grandma" Carole were looking forward to retirement. But life had something else in store for them. In l997, "Grandpop" and "Grandma," a couple who enjoyed spoiling their grandkids, but also relished the idea that they could send the children home to their own parents after fun visits, would have their lives shattered by the first of two tragedies that would befall this closely-knit family. In July of that year, their son-in-law, Jose Rosario, 33, died unexpectedly of a brain aneurysm. Jose left behind his wife, Sandra Py Rosario, a breast cancer survivor, and three young children, William, Samantha and Jose, "Joey."
Devastated by their loss, Sharon and the children returned home to be with her parents, "Grandpop" and "Grandma" who welcomed them with open, loving arms. Not long after returning home, though, Sharon discovered that her breast cancer had returned. Only 14 months after losing her husband, 28 year old Sandra lost her own life. Her children were suddenly orphans. "Grandpop"and "Grandma" Py were not about to turn their backs on their grandkids. The hard-working couple, who often wondered how they would beable to live a financially comfortable life of retirement before the added responsibilities that caring for their orphaned grandkids would bring, faced the harsh reality that things would be even tougher as they headed into the future.
Complicating matters was the discovery that their house was plagued by both asbestos and lead problems. Realizing that asbestos can cause severe medical problems and lead poisoning, "Grandpop" and "Grandma" Py worried how they would find the money that was needed to rid their house of such hazards.
Ok, I became a part of this project because John's, my fiancés, company was selected to do the granite counter-tops for the home. They found out about the home about a week before the whole thing began. They let us know about a super secret website that you could go to in order to sign up to be a volunteer. Of course I signed up! And on Thursday I got the email saying I had been selected!
So on Friday night at 11:00pm I drove down to Philadelphia to the Flat Spin night club- the staging area for the event. I had to sign in and get my white extreme makeover shirt, my badge, and learn exactly what I would be doing.
My job for the shift (which lasted from 1:00am- 7:00am) was to be a food runner. We got on a shuttle bus which took us from the staging area to the actual site.
Getting off the shuttle was absolutely amazing. There were trucks lining the road and lights everywhere! (it was around midnight!) The home had been demolished earlier that day, and there was nothing left!
I was able to walk close to the home at this point and see that they were working on the basement/crawl area. There were hundreds of people in blue shirts all coming together for this amazing event.
I was taken to the catering tent which was occupied by Wawa. They supplied coffee, drinks, hoagies, sandwiches, and snacks to all of the crew working on he home. My job was to take food from this tent onto the lawn beside the home so that the workers had easy access to whatever they wanted to eat. This means I was able to see the progress of the home every twenty minutes.
On a normal construction site this probably would not mean too much.. but on a site that is doing an entire home in 7 days it means the world. One hour of work here equals an entire days worth of work at a normal construction site. There was not a ton to do during the 1-7 shift because who really wants a hoagie at 330 in the morning? I was able to stand around on the lawn beside the home most of the evening and watch all that was going on. Simply amazing!!
I was really impressed with all of the workers! Everyone had such a great attitude and wanted to be there so much. No one helping out gets paid for the work done. Even all of the materials are 100% donated! By daylight I had made the decision I was going to stay through to the next shift (7:00am until 1:00pm.) because John and Steve were coming up. They finally arrived and I was so happy to see them!
We did what we could for a little while. Lifting wood, moving food around, taking out trash, etc. Then John and Steve got really more involved. They were helping out moving all kinds of supplies and wood. I then started moving debris from around and inside the house. It really made me feel important. And how exciting is it that I was able to be inside the house!
Around 10am I became absolutely exhausted!!!!! My entire body ached, I could barely move! I had to get out of there! I said goodbye to everyone and got on the shuttle to go back to home base. I then got my thank you bag which included a white shirt and a windbreaker. I got in my car and got a couple of miles down the road when my phone rang. It was John…"Amy, where are you? Ty just got here!!!"" ARE YOU KIDDING ME????
All night people had said that Ty was not going to be there until Tuesday or Wednesday. So what did I do…? Of course I turned my car around and went back. Got back on the shuttle, and arrived back at the site. When I got there he was inside the house… I snapped a few pictures, then helped out some more. I moved some more things.. then I saw Ty on the road. He said hi, and then went off to film some things. Steve came up to me and gave me his hard hat which he had Ty sign! (THANKS STEVE!).
Then I got on the shuttle again and headed out of there!!!!
I will definitely write more later.. I just wanted to share some of my initial thoughts!!!! Below are some pictures i snuck on my cell phone which was totally not allowed!
