by Erica Steen, Director of the Morris Cafritz Center for Community Service
Waddyaknow? They actually do get the house built in 7 days. I’m not sure I would have believed it before. With all of the lights and cameras for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition I assumed they cut and spliced their way through a month or so of building and just made it look like a week. But, a week it really is. Better than that, you can see for yourself if you join our group from the Washington DCJCC to volunteer at the Extreme Makeover work site in DC between August 22 – September 2. However, the registration deadline is Monday, August 17 at 4pm, so if you’re reading this after that, you’ll have to catch it when it airs.
The producers, builders, sponsors, donors and even some volunteers of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition had a rally yesterday in the Washington DCJCC’s Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater. Yes, we hosted the pre-show rally that brought everyone together. It was pretty cool.
For years I watched the show and it always brought me to tears. I finally stopped watching. I thought this is ridiculous; it’s reality TV that has been scripted. Well, I don’t know anything about a script, but from just sitting in our theater and listing to Conrad, the show’s Executive Producer, I was yet again in tears hearing about the difference each build makes.
As the Director of the Morris Cafritz Center for Community Service I know that sometimes we make just as much of an impact on our volunteers as we do on the people we are trying to help. For some reason I hadn’t thought about the impact that this show also makes. The fact that whole neighborhoods pitch-in, that volunteers are literally used around the clock (yes, 24 hours a day) and that a home, or in DC’s case, a home and community center are rebuilt, touches the lives of so many.
For a show I stopped watching because I wondered how much was true, I am back to supporting it. I look forward to getting our volunteers involved and can’t wait to be a part of making a difference and doing what we do, volunteering.
And if Ty Pennington needs help applying sunscreen to his washboard abs, I’ll gladly make myself available.
Filed under: Connections, Volunteer | Tagged: Behrend Builders, Extreme Makover: Home Edition, Reality Shows, Reality Shows in DC, Ty Pennington, United Way, Volunteer |
dcavodahnik
EntryPointDC
grantsguru
Halley Cohen
harrietn
Lili Kalish Gersch
krs10gardner
lespada
mszubin
Joshua Ford
sarahrabinspira
Erica Steen
Theater J
Washington Jewish Film Festival
zawatsky
zoyavolpe
The Blog at 16th and Q 
I used to watch the show but it was sickening ON purpose abc enforces sadness. They want 2 make us cry. Who wants to do that on Sun evening?
Good that they’re helping ppl but I dont watch.
I remember they were in PG a few years back & Patti Labelle even came & performed.
I hope they give the family financial counselling as when you get a new house, the property taxes increase, the eletric bill, water bill, gas bill. I dont want to hear about this house being taken bc the owners couldnt pay their new higher estate taxes.
Ya know I am on the other side where my budget is so tight and I am trying to remodel a house out of the pennies I have. I would love to get one of these homes because then the heat would stay in and I would be paying for something I actually got to use. The water and all would actually be where it was needed instead of where it wanted.
You obviously don’t understand the other side of the coin and need to read where these people are coming from. I do agree that people need to make sure they will be able to care for the property but life does happen,even for people fortunate enough to get one of these makeovers.