There is an anticipation in the air as the community, workers, and numerous volunteers await the big day - what Extreme Makeover: Home Edition calls the "Braveheart Rally" or the actual start of the building project!

Today people were busy setting up barricades, hauling trash, carry cartons of water, preparing the site, and setting up the communication. Some of our summer camp children will be displaced during the building project - but the UP camp directors, street leaders, and interns made the day a success for the kids. During the week our kids will need to find other activities to do off site - a big undertaking - we've had to rent additional buses, provide other areas for breakfast & lunch, and secure admissions to various recreational sites. But, still you could sense the excitement from the children, staff, volunteers, public officers - police, EMT's, media crew, and the local community residents.

A conversation today from a local police officer stated, "It's not about one community or another - Pennsauken or Camden. It's about two communities coming together to be a part of this project - providing a home for a father and his sons."


"It's just awesome," says Katie, an UrbanPromise College Intern from Atlanta.

One volunteer walked a mile to the site at 7:00am, shirt soaked from the humidity, smile on his face, and jumped right into the work - no job too small!! Thank You!

Victor - Hope you and the guys are enjoying yourselves in Spain!!

EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION AT URBANPROMISE
July 29-August 5, 2007

Day 1:

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 three brothers, Ethan, Steven, Josh, Jonesu and their father Victor.

The morning of—July 29th, 2007—the Marrero family were notified of their selection. They have been sent on a one week vacation and will return 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 Hovnavian family—one of the nations largest home building company—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 in our student center basement. 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.