The View – Park Hill South High School 4/05

It Takes a Village
Community joins together for local firefighter

Ty Pennington stood before the brick house, holding his loudspeaker, “Good morning Johnson family!” The door burst open and six people ran out, screaming and attacking the designers with hugs.

On March 30, at 8:30 a.m., Mr. Stephen Johnson and his family were called out of their home only to discover “Extreme Home Makeover: Home Edition” had taken over; trucks and vans were parked along the street and the designers and crew members were all over the yard and driveway.

Johnson, a firefighter, was nominated for his heroism. Thirteen months ago he saved paramedic Ms. Mary Seymour, who was shot in the chest while on call. Johnson and five other firefighters rescued Seymour and were able to get her to the hospital in time for surgery.

“(Johnson) is part of the group that is responsible for me being here still,” said Seymour.

Johnson is also a hero to his children. In August, on of Johnson’s neighbors, a foster parent to two teenagers, passed away. Johnson took the two teenagers in and eventually adopted them.

“He now has five teenagers by himself,” Seymour said. “Stephen deserves this more than anybody else I know.”

Pennington, the design team leader of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” announced to the Johnson family that for the next seven days they would be vacationing in Disney World while the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), Kevin Green Homes and hundreds of volunteers building a brand new home in five days and nine hours.

“(Building this home) takes a lot of organization, scheduling and great people with a passion to get it done,” said Kevin Green, a homebuilder in the Kansas City North area who was chosen by ABC to build the Johnson’s new home.

Mr. Milan Vasic, the location manager at ABC, said that the community support is the most important part of the project. It would have been impossible to build the home and help the Johnson family without help from the community.

“We’re the catalyst that starts this,” said Vasic, “but we can’t do it without them.”

People were more than willing to assist in every aspect of the project. Area businesses and organizations joined together to make it possible to build the house in such a short amount of time. South’s Symphonic Band played at the “gear-up” event for the companies involved.

“Community involvement is very important to me, my partners and my employees,” said Green. “These people are community minded, and wanted to make a contribution with their labor, available materials and donations.”

Mrs. Alice Ross, a volunteer from Kevin Green Homes, said that she become involved in the project because it is a great cause.

“Everybody likes to give,” said Ross. “This is a great way for a large number of people to come together as a community.”

Over 250 companies made donations to the project. The goal was not only to build the Johnson Family a new home, but also to help improve the Johnson’s lives.

“When we finish this house, (Johnson’s) family will know their community said yes to this house for them,” said senior producer Mr. Conrad Ricketts.

Mrs. Maggie Thomas, the design producer for ABC, said that building the hous is just a physical change on its own, however, combined with the other details of the project, the Johnson family will be emotionally impacted.

“Being a firefighter and supporting five children as a single dad, he’ll have a much better peace of mind,” Thomas said.

Many hope that the changes made for the Johnson family and their house will result in similar changes throughout the community.

“Getting together with the wonderful people and subcontractors with a passion to make a difference and work together for one common cause will hopefully impact others to do more of this type of community involvement,” Green said.

Vasic said that though ABC is an integral part of building the home and helping the Johnson family, the community can bring about enormous change o on its own.

“We want them to understand tat we’re not the only ones who can do this,” Vasic said. “They can get together on their own.”

“(Helping) is apart of American culture; people have forgotten that, but they still year n for it,” Rickett said. “It makes us stronger as a community and a nation.”

This episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” is set to air Sunday, May 15 on ABC.