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Joined: 2008-07-01
Posts: 269 | |
Posted at: 2010-02-06 14:50 hrs IST
by Rtn PP PHF Mohanraaj K.M. ( Tirupur North )
Past President
Post Subject: Extreme Makeover: Rotarian Edition Comes to Missouri
If sam clifton had his way, no one would know it was his company that led the build on the 4 October episode of the TV reality show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which provides new homes to families in need.
"I asked the producers if i could do this without being known. I didn't want the media attention. But then I thought about how great it would be to get other people in front of the camera, especially guys in the construction business who have been going through a rough time," says clifton, a member of the Rotary club of springfield southeast, Mo., USA.
More than 600 skilled laborers some unemployed and many from competing firms volunteered to help build a 3,400 spuare foot home in just four and a half days in July. clifton, who owns Millstone custom Homes with his wife, Michelle, estimates that a project that size, which included building a barn, chicken coop, and greenhouse, would included building a barn, chicken coop, and greenhouse, would normally take about six months.
The five bedroom house in Ash Grove replaced the 800 square foot home where chris and Niki Hampton, their two children, and four nieces and nephews had been living. In each episode, the award winning program selectors a family to receive a new home.
Clifton managed the job around the clock, sleeping in a trailer on site to be available for late night questions, and found volunteers to provide everything from food to landscaping. He says he quickly learned the value of having the right people on the job.
Among those people were two members of clifton's Rotary club, Judy Bilyeu and Michael wehrenberg. The corporate marketing director of Metro Builders supply, Bilyeu helped raise funds and recruit volunteers. she also worked with the show's designers to select $ 30,000 worth of lighting and appliances from her company's inventory to donate to the project.
Wehrenberg, who is president of wehrenberg Design company, developed the project's web site, www.millstone extremedream.com, "Through the site, he also was responsible for donor recognition and scheduling updates, as well as supplying a visual timeline through photos," Michelle clifton says.
In addition to the construction crew, the cliftons estimate that between 1,500 and 1,700 people volunteered in various ways. community members donated 95 percent of the materials for the build and raised enough money to help pay off the family's existing mortage.
The show's producers asked clifton whether he'd be interested in helping with another build. "It's a fun thing to do and definitely rewarding," he says, but notes, "If you go into this looking to get something out of it, then it's not going to work." | |
