Extreme Makeover: Home Edition surprises KCK family
This morning
A whirlwind week started for the Daniel Gilyeat family in Kansas City, Kan., this morning when they became the next beneficiary of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’s magic.
http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/345176.html
Sat, Nov. 03, 2007
By JASON NOBLE The Kansas City Star
About 9:10 a.m., their day started with a good morning greeting from host Ty Pennington and his trademark bullhorn outside their home at 3003 N. 65th Terrace. With TV cameras rolling and the media converging, Gilyeat and his four children became the third Kansas City area family in three years to be visited by the popular TV show and its crew.
The family will be sent on vacation while crews begin demolition on Monday, and the frenzy of building the family a new home is expected to start Tuesday. Hundreds of volunteers and workers will work around the clock to start and finish building by the end of the week.
The family, consisting of Gilyeat; daughters Alexis, 9 and Victoria, 8, and sons Danny, 6, and Nicholas, 4, will return next Sunday to be escorted by Pennington through their custom-built home.
The Stephen Johnson family from Kansas City was featured on the show in the spring of 2005. Last March, the 12-member Jesus and Michelle Jacobo family of Kansas City, North, received a new home.
Kevin Green Homes, which built the last two Makeover houses, will be running the construction process again.
The entire scene draws thousands of spectators, some hoping to sneak a peek at Pennington and others simply curious about the conversion and ready to yell, “Move that bus!”
This afternoon
Gilyeat and the children left for their vacation in Southern California after meeting for most of the day with the designers and builders who will construct their new house.
Before they left, Gilyeat, a 35-year-old disabled Marine Corps veteran who was injured in Iraq, said he began to suspect a couple of days ago that his family had been chosen for the makeover. Family members had been told ahead of time they were finalists along with a few other families, but were not told they were the lucky ones until this morning.
“I had some ideas when they started moving telephone poles and stuff, but still it all seems like a dream,” Gilyeat said.
After meeting with designers most of the morning, Gilyeat had a long chat with Pennington on his front porch, surrounded by cameras.
With the family out of the house and on their way to California, the Extreme Makeover crew began removing belongings and readying the house for Monday’s demolition.
Community members who want to watch the project in person can come beginning Monday. Spectators should park at Kansas City Kansas Community College, 7250 State Avenue in KCK, to board a shuttle to the neighborhood. The shuttle will run Monday from 12:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Tuesday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.