Extreme Makeover Home Edition Comes to the Washington DCJCC

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.