Extreme Makeover: St. Paul
While the crew continued to set up shots for the home tear-down, there was more than enough time for photo opportunities in front of the old house. (All photos by Dusty Hoskovec)
Ty Pennington and Extreme Makeover:Home Edition’s design team arrived on St. Paul's West Side Sunday to deliver an Extreme Makeover for the Morris family.
According to the City of St. Paul news release, Sandy Morris started a daycare after the birth of her first child, when she discovered that none of the daycare options met her standards, and that "most high-quality daycares were too expensive for her neighbors," in the community where she grew up. That was 16 years ago. Today "Tia Sandy" and her family still live a 100-year-old house that just can't meet the needs of her multicultural daycare center.
Paul Dimeo of Extreme Makeover "Home Edition" explained design elements of the new home/daycare to Sam Champion from Good Morning America.
According to the City of St. Paul press release:
Unfortunately, Sandy runs her daycare out of their 100-year-old home, which is falling apart. The numerous repairs needed to make the home safe threaten to shut down the daycare. Now it is up to Ty and the designers to build Sandy, 40, her daughter Catricia, 15, and her son Mychal, 12, a safe home that is a sanctuary for their family and will enable Sandy’s daycare to remain a center of community life and education. ...
District del Sol is located on Saint Paul’s West Side just south of downtown. The West Side gets its name because the neighborhood is the only part of Saint Paul on the west side of the Mississippi River, which borders the neighborhood on three sides as it curves around the valley. The district hosts the city’s oldest Mexican restaurant and one of the largest Cinco de Mayo Fiestas in the United States. District del Sol is known as one of Saint Paul's most diverse and spiciest neighborhoods.
Cast and crew of Extreme Makeover "Home Edition" set up for a shot prior to demolition in what used to be the front lawn.
Kermit the Frog from the Muppets spoke to Sam Champion of Good Morning America from inside the backhoe.
The community showed their support for the Morris family by coming out to celebrate the spectacle, despite the chilly weather.
Kiah and Gabrielle, arrived with signs conveying their close connection to the family.
More than enough people were on site volunteering their time to cheer on the cast and crew, and help out when needed.
A young boy peered over the barricade while waiting for the demolition to begin.
The crew teased the crowd for hours with the bucket of the backhoe looming over the house. Several times, chants of "Tear it down! Tear it down!" erupted from an impatient crowd.
Finally more than two hours after the initially scheduled time and with all cameras in place, a member of the crew pushed the bucket through the roof with a cloud of dust rising from the rubble.
It began to rain as the backhoe dug even deeper into the house giving the crowd a glimpse of the interior before it was completely torn down.
Want to see the Extreme Makeover in progress? You can -from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., through October 9. There's no parkiong near the site, but free parking and shuttle service are scheduled at Signal Hills Center Parking Lot, 50 Signal Hills Center, West St. Paul.
Neighborhood House and the American Red Cross have a food and blood drive to accompany the build. The goal is 25,000 pounds of food and 4,800 blood donations during the week -- bring food to the shuttle site or to Neighborhood House. Contact the Red Cross for information about the blood drive at www.givebloodgivelife.org to schedule an appointment for the “extreme” week of blood drives.
Dusty Hoskovec is a Twin Cities photographer. See more of his work on his MNArtists page.
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Comments
Not a Home Makeover
This show bugs me. They do not do home makeovers. They do demolitions and replace modest homes with McMansions. Often they destroy historic houses in the process. The Mc Mansions which replace the traditional homes only reinforce the values our culture places on a lifestyle of consumerism and excess. Folks don't need and can not afford houses of that scale. However, by showing viewers demolitions of modest homes and replacement with Mc Mansions, it only reinforces that this is what the modern american family "should" aspire to. That older house served many families very well for a hundred years. And with a little remodling, could have for a hundred more. Not to mention how "ungreen" it is to truck a perfectly fine house to a landfill (probably built of lumber from virgin forests) and construct a new house with all of the chemicals found in today's building materials. This show purports to be "helping" people. As much as it can pull at heartstrings, it really comes down to entertainment. If they were really about helping people, for the cost of putting one family into a Mc Mansion, they could probably put three families into modest homes. This show just makes me sick.
ha
Actually, if you have seen how some of the old houses were built you would know that there is no such thing as a little remodeling. It would cost just as much to tear down the house and build another one as it would be to fix the old one.
Getting Back to the Point...
Well, I had a lot of things I wanted to say but have decided to keep them to myself at this time. I'll say, instead, that this article does not appear to express the individual opinions of the writer or the photographer. Rather, it was intended to inform the surrounding communities of the excitement that's happening in the lives of their neighbors. Because, let's face it, this IS exciting for many of the people in the community -- McMansion or not.
Of course it's for entertainment. They're not gonna make a big stink about some low budget program featuring modest renovations.
They couldn't possibly pay Kermit the Frog enough to appear on a show like that.
St. Paul extreme makeover comments.... Awesome!!!!
I look forward to this show all day on Sundays and always find myself crying sometime during the show. We watch every Sunday. I think I like this show so much is because it teaches people young and old today empathy, compassion, be thankful for what you have, and don't complain because someone has it worse than you. This depicts a community pulling together to help a family. America needs to do more of this: helping others and working together to raise our kids together in a safe environment.
I truly feel this is one of the best shows on tv currently, and it is probably one of the cheapest shows to produce. Many blessings to the design team - all of you are angels of God with the best jobs in America. Every week you meet a different family in the midst of their struggles and make their dreams come true, and in the process you give them and everyone who watches HOPE!!!
God Bless and thanks for coming to Minnesota to help a remarkable role model/Mother and family.
Thanks Paul, you met me and my daughter Grace on Thursday evening 10/8. That was so cool how you chose 5-6 kids from the crowd to take them in the house and give them a private tour. That was a very special and neat thing to do. Keep up the great work and caring.
Please come back again!
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