While we can’t show you pictures from the new house or the family reaction (that would ruin the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” episode in January!), we can show photographs that were taken of the crowd as they react to the sights and sounds of the big Reveal of the new Cowan-Brown house.
To see more pictures of the crowd, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/hallmarkhomesinc/tags/thereveal/
By Rhett Umphress
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.
It’s over.
After a week-long build that truly can be defined as one of the most unique “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” efforts ever, the family is back in their new house.
Hallmark Homes would like to thank everyone who made this possible. There is no way that it could’ve been done without you.
The Cowan-Brown family is home.
By Jenelle Bickel
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.
By Jenelle Bickel
Groups of spectators have been gathering at the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” site all morning.
“We arrived at Grissom [Air Force Base] at about 10, but didn’t get to the site until about 11,” Andrea Wilson said.
By Rhett Umphress
Aaron Williams is the owner of Aaron’s Auction Team, and he ran the auction on Saturday at the Grissom Air Force Base.
Williams said that the auction was a great success, with 292 registered bidders.
“We had a great turnout,” Williams said. “Everyone had a great time.”
He estimates that more than $18,000 were raised in the auction. $5,000 of it came from the pillows that Kori made. Another notable item was the autographed David Cook guitar, which went for $1100.
Lynn Imel is here to support her daughter, Amber Smitherson, an accountant for Hallmark Homes. “Amber calls me and has me bring things she needs to the site for her,” Imel explained. Imel sat with her daughter and grandchildren, Allison, 11, and Carson, 6, at the food tent table and ate lunch while they waited for more instructions. Allison and Carson exclaimed, “We only have two more autographs to get!” while talking about the auction on Saturday where they got most of their autographs. The money is still being counted but the amount raised by the auction is rumored to be around $18,000. Allison was very excited about the new Cowan-Brown home and is glad to be here even though she is not old enough to help with the house.
Devon Luttrell is a 17-year-old student from Tipton, Ind. Her mother’s friend got involved with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition earlier this year and brought Luttrell and her mother along to help this time. Luttrell helps by manning the VIP tent, handing out sandwiches and drinks to the workers along with anything else she is needed for. “It is pretty crazy that I am only 17 and I have an all access pass!” Luttrell explained, “I was like ten feet from David Cook and Xzibit and I didn’t realize I was allowed to go talk to them!” Later her mother informed her what “all access” meant and Luttrell will not make that mistake again. She plans to approach any and all celebrities she sees from now on.
Two airmen, Karl Ackerman and Chris Sterling, took off work to volunteer. Sterling said he scheduled off and Ackerman said he would call in an hour or so and call in, “I probably should get on that,” Ackerman explained. They worked all night long starting at 11 p.m. “They asked me what I was good at and I said everything. So yesterday I was an expert sider, today I am an expert trimmer and who knows maybe tomorrow I’ll be an expert plumber,” Sterling explained.
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.
By Logan Braman
It’s Day Seven and everything on the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” build is coming together. All the hours that the builders, sponsors and volunteers have put into the Cowan-Brown family’s new home has come down to “Move that bus!” time. Hallmark Homes is almost done with its part of the build and ready to hand the keys off to the Extreme Makeover team.
Derek Wilder, CEO of Hallmark Homes, has been thanking volunteers, sponsors and everyone else involved with the build all morning. The build has been full of challenges, most of which came with the rain late last week, but so far all of them have been overcome. Wilder said the turnaround from being behind to getting back on track was the biggest accomplishment.
“I’ve heard people saying that they’ve never seen anything like that turnaround,” he said. “From that perspective, I’m really proud of the guys for it. Basically, that first morning was one that was very difficult. At 3 a.m. [Friday], I get a phone call and we have a foot of water and the foundation is totally flooded so I had to get on the phone and make a plan for how we’re going to get out of this.”
The plan is working. Volunteers are putting the finishing touches on the inside of the home while others lay sod in the front yard. Eventually, the keys will be handed off to the ABC Extreme Makeover team and Hallmark Homes will be finished with its part of the job. Wilder said most of the work is already out of his hands.
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