The Kansas City Star March 12, 2007
By Joyce Smith

Family to get ‘Makeover’
The Jacobo family of 12 will go to Florida while Ty Pennington and crew tackle the Northland home.

This tiny beige house on a Northland hill is “crumbling apart” from the strain of a dozen family members living inside.
Jesus and Michelle Jacobo had four children of their own when they took in Michelle’s five nieces and nephews to keep them out of foster care, according to family members. Then Michelle’s father moved in to help out. But as the 912-square-foot home began to show wear and tear, the nieces and nephews were at risk of being taken into foster care anyway.

Early Sunday morning, ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” came to the rescue with its trademark megaphone yell: “Good morning Jacobo family.”

The family – which now includes the Jacobo’s children Antonio, 13; Jessica, 11; Joshua, 9; and Gabriel, 4; as well as nieces and nephews Natalie Rodriguez, 18; Brittany McMahan, 16; Tyler Simons, 11; Angel McMahan, 8; and Miriam McMahan, 6 months – will head off to vacation in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., as crew members and hundreds of volunteers and workers demolish the home and replace it with a more expansive and efficient one so the extended family can stay together.

“We’re pretty excited; they really deserve it,” said Michelle’s brother, Michael McMahan of Leavenworth. “They need their own bedrooms, more room to play in.”

Jesus and Michelle sleep in the unheated garage. Three of the boys live in a basement hallway that is often flooded by the laundry room, and the grandfather who has severe hip problems, sleeps on the living room floor. One bedroom has no heat, and ice often forms on the walls in the winter.

The family brushed their teeth in the kitchen sink because the bathroom sink keeps clogging despite repeated repairs. They also take shifts at meal times or eat sitting on the living room floor, because the kitchen can’t hold them all.

But on Sunday, crew members talked about building up, down and back to give the family the home thy needed on the small lot.

Streets around 42nd Terrace and Chouteau Trafficway were blocked off to keep visitors at bag. Chris Stilwell, 11, a friend and neighbor of Tyler’s, stood at the bottom of the hill and jumped up and down whenever he saw his friend in the yard.

“This is awesome; I wish I could get up there to him,” he said. “But we have a front row3 seat.”

“Extreme Makeover” was in Kansas City nearly two years ago for Kansas City firefighter Stephen Johnson and his five children, tow of them adopted. Kevin Green Homes Inc. of Parkville did that project and also will do the Jacobo home.

Demolition will start Tuesday morning with construction running from Tuesday afternoon through Saturday. Then the show’s designers get a day to decorate. The family will be back for the big “reveal” Sunday afternoon.