EXTREME MAKEOVER:
HOME EDITION
November 11, 2007
8pm, EST

Massage In the Morning
Every morning at 7am, during the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition build, Marika would set up shop in the library of the CamdenForward School. Marika is a massage therapist. For a few hours each day she would help our sweaty construction workers relax and work their sore muscles (many of these guys worked all night!). When I thanked Marika the last day for helping she said, “I don’t have money, but I do have my hands.” I have thought about that statement for the last few months. When everyone brings their gifts, whatever they might be, amazing accomplishments take place.

Extremely Involved
“I don’t usually host events at my house,” began Trudy. “But I just want to share what is happening with UrbanPromise and the children of Camden.” Trudy volunteered on the Extreme build. She learned about it on the internet. Sunday night she is inviting her friends over to watch the show and learn about UrbanPromise. Trudy has applied to volunteer at UrbanPromise to tutor children and wants to get her church more involved. “I’m hooked,” she confessed. I would say Trudy is Extremely hooked.

Keep the Build Alive
As the new Marrero home was going up, walls at UrbanPromise’s Eastside Building were coming down. Our good friends from Campbell Soup, Sedexo, allRisk, Comcast, Space Design and the folk from the United Building Trades were dreaming about renovating the cafeteria, kitchen and program space in the old Eastside Building. Plans to “keep the build” alive continue. It is our hope that within a few months we will have a newly renovated space for our children.

For more information on the Eastside Building Project contact Joy Messner at (856) 661-1700 Ext: 18 or jmessner@urbanpromiseusa.org

More than A Home
When the Marrero family moved into their new home on the UrbanPromise Campus in East Camden, they received more than a home. Two of the Marrero boys, Steven and Jonas, now attend the UrbanPromise Academy—an alternative high school designed to prepare Camden teens for university. “My sons love school this year,” claimed Victor recently. For a father raising five teenage boys, having his two sons walk across the parking lot to their school is one less thing to worry about. “They are safe. They are happy. And they are learning.” While the boys are at school, Victor continues his work with the Single Fathers of Camden.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition at UrbanPromise: The Beginning
Shortly after Diane Sawyer’s 20/20 special, Waiting on the World to Change, aired this past January, UrbanPromise was contacted by ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition—the mega hit television show which builds and rehabs homes for families around the United States.

The creators of Extreme Makeover expressed interest in building a home for one of the families featured on 20/20 special—namely Billy Joe, his four brothers: Ethan, Steven, Josh, Jonas and their father Victor.

The morning of—July 29th, 2007—the Marrero family were notified of their selection. They were sent on a one week vacation to Spain and returned to a new home on August 5th! Their exciting story will be watched by close to a billion people world-wide, this coming November.

One criterion needed to be selected for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is homeownership—the family needs to own their own home or their own piece of land. No land, no chance to be selected.

To overcome this obstacle, UrbanPromise donated a parcel of land adjacent to our campus in East Camden to the Marrero family. The new home will be built on our Campus.

Starting July 29, 2007 over 2000 people will be donating time and services to construct this new home. The J.S. Hovnanian & Sons family - a four generation builder in South Jersey - is coordinating the construction and donating their expertise. Production trucks fill our parking lots, caterers are serving hundreds of meals in our sanctuary to hungry volunteers, and California interior designers are building bedroom sets. The UrbanPromise campus is a beehive of energy and creativity.

Besides the building of the new house for Victor and his family, ABC will also renovate a portion of the UrbanPromise Eastside Building to better accommodate our afterschool programs and provide space for Victor’s, Single Fathers of Camden, outreach program to father’s in our community.

This is an extremely exciting event in the life of UrbanPromise. I encourage you to follow the progress of the build on our blog, come and visit, or send a gift to help offset the costs associated with relocating 200 children in summer camps for the week.