The Kansas City Star March 14, 2007
By Bill Graham and Jason Noble

‘Makeover’ Family Heads to Florida

Hundreds cheer as house comes tumbling down
As construction and TV crews work their magic, the 12-member Jacobo family hits the beach.
Even dreams coming true can be bittersweet.

So it seemed Tuesday to Sheena Long and Shaina Long, 21-year-old twins, as they remembered good times in their aunt’s tidy but tiny house. With about 300 onlookers and volunteers watching, it was razed for ABC’s television show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

Jesus and Michelle Jacobo lived in the 912-square-foot Kansas City, North home with nine children and a grandparent until Sunday. That’s when television crews arrived and packed them all off to Florida for a weeklong vacation.

Michelle Jacobo wept with joy and sadness as she left.

“All her memories are in this house,” Sheena Long said. “She was sad and happy at the same time.”

The Jacobos will return Sunday to a new three-level house at 4132 N. Spruce Ave. A contractor on Tuesday said it would have 5,100 square feet of living space. The foundation was poured Tuesday, and the walls and rooms are set to go up today.

“She said she’ll be afraid of a big house, but she’ll get over that,” Long said.

Their Florida vacation should help.

The Jacobos lounged Tuesday morning by a pool and at the beach, said Diane Korman, the show’s senior producer. They shopped in the afternoon at the show’s expense.

Meanwhile, the Long sisters of Olathe and other family members kept a vigil for the old house Tuesday morning as demolition neared.

Family members saved the front door to remember the laughter and love within those walls.

“Everything they do, they just want to see the kids happy,” Shaina Long said.

The Longs helped with paperwork that brought the show to the neighborhood, known as Sunnybrook Addition.

“We come up here every day to help her out,” Shaina Long said. “We drive the kids to school stuff and watch them or give them baths. She’s like our second mom.”

The family is fun-loving and religious, attending St. Patricks’s Catholic Church.

Jesus is a friendly man with a big heart, they said. For fun, the couple loves to go to Hispanic dances. He works long hours installing cranes on trucks for Custom Trucking Equipment in Independence to pay the family’s bills.

“He’s given up his life for these kids,” Shaina Long said.

Co-workers described Jacobo as hard-working and dedicated. They’ve collected donations to help his family at Christmas.

“We can’t thin of someone who deserves this more,” said Pam Bobek, human resources manager at Custom Trucking.

Michelle Jacobo, 37, is the family jokester.

“With nine kids, she has to have a sense of humor,” Sheena Long said.

The Jacobos eldest daughter is Natalie Rodriquez, 18, from Michelle’s earlier marriage. Three children were born to Jesus and Michelle: Antonio, 14; Jessica, 11; and Joshua, 9.

When Michelle’s sister could no longer care for five of her children, the Jacobos took them in. They are Brittany McMahan, 16; Tyler Simmons, 11; Angel McMahan, 8; Gabriel Jacobo, 4; and Miriam McMahan, 6 months.

The Jacobos have adopted Gabriel, Sheena Long said. They have legal custody of Brittany, Tyler and Angel. They plan to adopt Miriam.Michelle was already working around the clock to take care of children,” Long said. “Then she had to start getting up in the middle of the night to take care of a baby. That wasn’t what she was expecting at her age. But she wasn’t going to let that baby leave the family.”

Michelle’s father, Ray McMahan, also lives with them.

State officials had threatened to take some of the nieces and nephews away because of the cramped house.

But on Tuesday, two Ford F-350 pickups were hooked by cables to the front walls.

Among the cheering crowd were students from classes at nearby Winnwood Elementary, where some of the Jacobo children attend.

“They’re excited,” said Nicole Jones, Tyler’s teacher. “I don’t think any of them realize how the kids were living at all, because they never complained about it.”

The school is planning a book drive for the family’s new home.

But first, the old one had to go.

Horns honked and onlookers cheered as the Fords lurched forward driven by two of the show’s designers, Paige Hemmis and Michael Moloney. Their leader, Ty Pennington, held a video camera and cheered them on.

Two chunks of the front wall fell out.

Demolition and camera crews regrouped for more shots, as a bulldozer and a front loader pushed the house down from behind.
The show’s cast celebrated with high fives for the cameras, and the crowd cheered.
“It’s unreal to see it down,” Sheen Long said.