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Anyone who came to volunteer at the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” build likely met Anita Knepp. Knepp was the volunteer coordinator at the build. She would check in both skilled and non-skilled participants as they came through the volunteer tent for each day of the build.

Knepp is a sales manager at Hallmark Homes. She became the volunteer coordinator when she was asked to do lead that effort by the producers from ABC.

Along with finding volunteers for some of the non-build tasks, Knepp also traveled the site performing miscellaneous activities. She would make sure that trash dumpsters were empty, make sure that everyone had the proper apparel and badges, and just fill in where she was need, she said.

And what the hardest part of the build?

“Lack of sleep,” she said with a chuckle.

The build was also a family affair for the Knepps. Knepp has two daughters and two sons come to site. Her cousin’s husband was a part of donating and installing the geothermal system for the house. And her husband helped with the Family Service Association Domestic Shelter renovations in Kokomo.

Undulated with volunteers, Knepp was able to spread some of them to tasks around the community. Along with the Domestic Shelter – where a new roof, painting, flooring, and landscaping all occurred – volunteers also helped some at some homes of the elderly where they could not perform such tasks themselves.

She still talks to people occasionally about the show. It comes up at work, as well as when she runs into people for the first time since the build. She has had old high school friends who have e-mailed her once they heard about her involvement in the build. Knepp said that it has been nice to reconnect with people.

One of Knepp’s favorite moments was meeting a child that was a big fan of the show. She helped the child meet several of the cast members and get their autographs.

“It was nice meeting some of the kids that were fans of the show,” she said.

Maconaquah School District assistant superintendent Dr. James Callane coordinated the school bus shuttle service between Grissom AFB and the Extreme Makeover build site.

Callane met with “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” location managers a week before the Cowan-Brown build. Together, they devised an inclimate weather transportation plan for the build week. Following the downpour early in the week, the plan was put into effect.

“We had a rotation of bus drivers working three hour shifts,” Callane said. “Since our corporation has four spare buses, we were able to use those buses during the hours when we were transporting students to and from school.”

Substitute bus drivers drove the spare buses when regular bus drivers were transporting students.

Callane created spreadsheets of the days and hours for drivers to haul people from the base to the site, and to keep track of bus and fuel use. The drivers were scheduled and worked non-stop for five days.

“We donated the cost of the wear and tear, but we did submit a bill to ABC for the cost of the fuel,” Callane said. “That really is taxpayer money, and that’s not something we could have donated.”

The amount billed to ABC was nearly $4,900. The value of the bus drivers’ time, which they donated, was more than $3,000. The school corporation owns the buses.

“Our bus drivers were fantastic in helping with this project,” he said. “They have good hearts.”

Callane was there, too. He greeted bus riders as they boarded and exited the buses, and he visited the build site.

The bus drivers said they appreciated “Jamey,” as they call him, for all of his work coordinating the project during a time when his mother was extremely ill and his wife was nearing the end of a pregnancy.

“We had a great time with this,” Callane said. “As we say at Maconaquah with our bus drivers: ‘That’s the way we roll.’”

Bus drivers from the Maconaquah School Corporation drove spectators and volunteers from Grissom Air Force Base to the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” build site for five days because of the rain and muddy field parking areas. Buses would run 24 hours a day, shuttling workers back and forth between the two sites.

In total, 27 regular and substitute bus drivers participated in the round-the-clock shuttle service.

“There was such an outpouring of people that we just kept going,” said Karen Grove, a 32-year bus driver with the school corporation.

The bus drivers could only estimate that they hauled thousands and thousands of people to the site. All kinds of people, according to Grove, each had their own opinions and perceptions about what was going on at the build site.

Bob Clark, a 37-year veteran and now substitute bus driver who volunteered 30 hours, said it was exciting to see the community and volunteers embrace the event as they did, and that the excitement was even evident when he shuttled people at 11 p.m.

The bus drivers had opportunities to meet a variety of interesting people during the week. Carol Russell, who has been driving buses for three years, said she got to meet David Cook – and even had a brief conversation with him; Carolyn Deckard, a 25-year special education bus driver, noted that people slept in their cars at Grissom between volunteer shifts, and also had an elderly couple who would just ride to and from the site on her bus without getting off to watch the build; and Karen Grove drove designer Paul Dimeo on her bus – he got the bus crowd to shout, “Move that bus!”

Barb Verbosky, a 26-year bus driver with Maconaquah schools, said that in light of the current economic mood, the excitement of this event was much needed.

“It gave us a boost,” she said, “a shot of adrenaline.”

The 27 drivers who volunteered to drive were Bob Clark, Tammy Shaffer, Rodger Murray, Kelly Turner, Tom Brunner, Madge Smitley, Sheree Spurgeon, Barb Verbosky, Phil Smitley, Jamie Nelson, Mark Harmon, Carol Russell, Denny Herrell, Sandy Gable, Karen Grove, Donna Blackburn, Carolyn Deckard, Lamar Miller, Theresa Alspaugh, Rex Grismore, Kim Wolf, Sharon Case, Triscia Maston, John Catanzaro, Gary Grant, April Hale and Amy Astrup.

Jane Mitchell has been volunteering at the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” build since Saturday. In the last two days alone, she has put more than 20 hours in by helping in any way that she can.

Mitchell is acquainted with the Cowan-Brown family as her art teacher, Becky Osmond, is Heather Cowan’s mother.

“The family really deserves this,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell missed the preliminary volunteer meetings as she was out of state at the time. She came to the site hoping to volunteer and was successful. She has done a variety of tasks this week, including staining woodwork, working on the upstairs windows, cleaning inside the house, and carrying items wherever they need to go.

Mitchell is extremely excited for the family and cannot wait for them to see their new home.

“I’m very, very happy for them,” she said.

Brittany Ramus and Brandon Sloan have been volunteering throughout the whole week here at “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” build. Today, they are selling merchandise from Hallmark Homes such as T-shirts for $10 and hats for $15. All the proceeds go to the Cowan-Brown family.

Ramus and Sloan have been involved with many different volunteering activities during the five days they have volunteered. Their previous duties included bus duty, where they made sure everyone got on and off the buses safely, as well as making sure everyone returned the hard hats that were provided. These two volunteers also helped with put up drywall for the house, and made sure the construction workers got refreshments.

“We’ve volunteered for five days, and it’s been fun,” Ramus said.

As the time for the revealing of the house grows nearer, many people are buying more merchandise to support the family.

Most of the jobs Sterling claimed to be an “expert” at meant he had done it once or twice.  They worked with one man who gave them measurements to cut wood but the measurements were too short. “We came back the second time and he was gone,” Sterling said before Ackerman chimed in, “and he took our nail gun too!” Overall they have had a good time and really enjoyed helping this family.

Another unusual site from Family Day was a group of local clowns from the Peru Circus.  Their colorful outfits and charismatic personalities helped brighten the day.  The clowns said they knew there were going to be a lot of kids on site and they wanted to make the kids smile.  The clown troop included Michelle Feltis, Ginnie Williams, Kayla Deardorff, and Chloe Hunt.