Division I regional track finals
Fenwick graduation 2012
Ponitz graduation 2012
Home > Blogs > Reality Bytes > Archives > 2009 > August > 06
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Extreme Makeover family sees new home
By Amanda Liles, Staff Writer
BEAVERCREEK — The “bus” has moved, giving the Terpenning family the first glimpse of their new home.
The Terpenning family arrived to the cheers of thousands of spectators as they exited a limousine at the site of their new home this afternoon, Thursday, Aug. 6.
Once the bus moved, family members cried tears of joy and the volunteers who helped build the house celebrated.
James Terpenning thanked the crowd after speaking with local builder Rob Arnold of Coventry Fine Homes. He then clapped for the volunteers and praised his co-workers at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
“We really appreciate you all coming out,” James Terpenning said to the crowd. “We have a great community and a great Air Force, a great crew and you all did a great job.”
James and his wife Shannon were surprised by a knock on the door from the ABC reality show on July 30. The family was whisked away for a paid vacation to Disney World while about 1,500 volunteers, local home builder Coventry Fine Homes and the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition team worked around the clock for nearly a week to build them a new house at 548 Carthage Drive.
The family has four children: Josselyn, 6; twins Justin and Jacob, 2; and Joshua, 1. James’ adopted brother Joseph, who has cerebral palsy, also lives with the family.
Earlier, today people attempting to catch spectator and VIP shuttle buses to the site of the Extreme Makeover home were lined up around the Eastgate Ford building. Eastgate Ford is the designated location to catch the shuttle to the site of the new home.
There were so many people that the Eastgate Ford parking lot on Seajay was full and motorists were starting to spill over into parking lots of other nearby businesses.
Shuttle driver Karen Snyder, who drives school buses for Beavercreek Schools, said they are running four shuttle buses that were full all morning.
And volunteer Melinda Pendergraft, who had been at the dropoff spot for about an hour around 1 p.m., said she has seen at least 10 buses drop people during that time.
Meanwhile, the community’s generosity continues to build. Officials from Wittenberg University in Springfield have announced that the college is donating full scholarships for all four Terpenning children.
The scholarships are valued at $540,000 at today’s tuition rate, said Karen Hunt, director admissions at Wittenberg.
In 12 years, when the children are ready to go to college the award is estimated to be worth more than $800,000, she added.
We heard about the family and it just seemed like the thing to do, Hunt said. Wittenberg first got involved with Extreme Makeover when their president was invited to watch construction from the VIP tent. After hearing the family’s story, Wittenberg officials decided to reach out.
The mission of Wittenberg is one of service, integrity and giving back to others, said Karen Gerboth, director of communications. This family just seems like a natural fit.
Tweet‘Extreme Makeover: Beavercreek,’ Day Three: Just Doing My Job
By Jen Mahaffey Extreme Makeover: Home Edition volunteer blogger
I went into the house to help with the beginning of what they call final stages. The crews had painted the walls and were beginning to add their creative touches and artwork on the walls in the bedrooms. These rooms are amazing, and again not being allowed to talk about what they are doing just know that when they are revealed, they will blow your mind how stunning they are. I helped clean out the left over materials and trash as a crew was finishing up the fireplace so that another crew could start laying the floor. The inside of this house is absolutely beautiful, the kitchen with the exception of the floor was almost finished and looks like something on a page in a magazine. As the floors started going down, there were crews in every room. The floors were going in so fast it was amazing to watch. There were so many power tools going at once, they even blew a fuse at one point, these crews were working fast. It seemed like five minutes had gone by and the bedroom was finished.
It is amazing how fast they work. In the master bedroom I was asked to help sweep it out so they could then lay the floor, I swept and they begun laying the floor. Part of the floor was laid but they needed a hand broom, so I went on my hunt for this hand broom. I found the broom and headed for the bedroom but when I got back, they didn’t need it because they were finished. Ok it wasn’t like I had to walk for days or spent hours looking for this brush, I literally went from one side of the house to the other, then went outside and then back around and into the house. They had done it that fast, I was amazed and I guess the look on my face must have said it all because one of the crew members asked if I were ok, he said you looked stunned. The only reply I had was “I am, I thought you needed a hand broom” he just laughed and said yeah we took care of it, we just made another tool work. I said “I guess next time I will run” he said no you were quick and we Thank you for that., Again another thank you to me, when all I did was try and help them out, they really had no reason to thank me. These crews are just so incredible. This crew had said that I was entertaining them and making it seem as though they weren’t even working, so I laughed and made the comment “just doing my job”. They then said that I could work with them anytime and they appreciated me helping. How amazing are these men? Really amazing!! It’s incredible how good they make you feel about everything you are doing.
Since that floor was complete, I began to help another crew with getting the doors so that they could get all of them put on and the gentleman could check the alarm. Ok here is where this will become the comedy event of the evening. I walked out with a few other volunteers to get these doors that were under a tent outside which sounds easy right? WRONG!!! Walking from the house to this tent meant walking through what seemed like a mile of waist deep mud and it was very slick. Now the fact that there was a small hill that we had to walk up to get the doors should have been some sort of warning that going down maybe a little on the difficult side especially since another volunteer already up this hill had to grab my hand to help me up, but was it? NO. I along with an older gentleman grab the door and head down the hill, he warned me and said careful its slick and the weight of the door makes it even harder. I at that point was fine, so he picked up the speed and just as I began to say “wait” I hit a slick spot on the mud and started sliding, it looked like I were ice skating. Then what seemed to be in slow motion, I started to slowly fall to the ground and as one side hit I felt someone grab me. I stand up, another volunteer takes the other side of the door and as I have mud down the entire right side of my body turn around only to see that the most important man there was the one to grab me, I was embarrassed. I laughed even though I wanted to cry and said oh my gosh I am so sorry, this man looks at me and said “sorry about what” He patted my back and said “keep up the good work” So feeling better I walk into the garage where part of the production crew is standing and getting ready to tape for an upcoming scene.
Now I am in my mind thinking oh no I hope they didn’t see me fall, but knowing that there probably wasn’t anybody that didn’t see me fall and the attention that the person that picked me up was getting, now drew attention to me, so i knew that along with the hundreds of people behind the barricades had to have seen me. I was right, they saw, because as soon as they saw me one of the guys handed me a work shirt, I must have looked puzzled because he said “Try to wipe off with this” I took the shirt and try to wipe off the best that I could. Another member of the crew said its nasty out there and it really makes it hard to work, huh. I just laughed and said “yes it does” He said well if it makes you feel better, you aren’t the first to fall today. I said “a little” but then the first crew member that gave me the towel that I thought was so sweet makes the comment ” no, but your the first one (the important man) picked up out of the mud” and then started to laugh. I said “oh thanks, you make me want to throw myself face first in the mud” He walks over and gives me a hug and said “I’m sorry then turns and said look now I’m dirty you got mud on my shirt, do you feel better”? In some way I did feel better, not sure if it was the fact that he hugged me or that he himself had mud on him. I’m really not even sure why it bothered me at all because every where you turned it looked like people had been playing mud volleyball. Mostly everyone was covered, most of the people you couldn’t even tell had shoes on because they were so covered in mud that was so thick and up to there knees from where they had been working in the backyard. After getting what mud I could off, I continued working.
At this point I am working hard and have sweat pouring down my face, and dried mud caked all over me. We then hear production announce they are filming for a scene, I know covered in mud I am safe and won’t have to worry about being on film so I continue to work and as I am helping finish in one of the bathrooms, I hear a familiar voice, I look around the corner and who is in this scene, my uncle Rick! Man he is so lucky, he always is where the action is. Now he is in on a scene while I on the other hand am covered in mud and my only interaction with the film crew has been falling in the mud. But even that wouldn’t make me give up any of this experience for anything in the world, this has been amazing and I am extremely happy that Rick has been able to do all of the exciting things he has.
I just laughed and continued to work and then I was asked to help unload the truck with the landscaping on it. Here we go again, as I am tracking through the thick mud I am thinking to myself walk slow and pick up your feet one at a time. That was not an easy task, every time you raised your foot last night it was covered in heavy thick mud, it felt like your shoes were stuck in concrete. As I got to the truck and started to unload i turned around and noticed that my shoe was still in the mud, that’s right the last time I picked up my foot, it came out of my shoe and my shoe stayed in the mud. All I could do was laugh. I wasn’t the only one it had happened to and with the conditions wouldn’t be the last.
We kept working into the wee hours of the morning and soon things were coming together. The rooms had been painted, flooring had been laid, trash was picked up, trucks had been moved; things were starting to be completely cleaned up. The crews were working on getting the landscaping started and the house was beginning to look like a home. The sod was being ready to be laid. The driveway and sidewalk were laid. The front porch is absolutely beautiful with large white pillars and white fencing around the front.
So by the end of this shift you could really see this as a complete home, the landscaping was down, the house on the outside was complete and the crews were getting ready for the final clean up to get ready to move the furniture in at some point today. There were also rumors of Kellie Pickler being there and performing sometime this evening.
This post by an Extreme Home Makeover volunteer was reviewed by the show’s producers before it was released to this web site.
Tweet
