When ABC network television’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” producers brainstormed about the 2008 season finale, their thoughts turned to New Orleans.
The Extreme Makeover project at Noah’s Ark Baptist Church in New Orleans included chairs – seen here being carried up the steps of the church building – as well as hymnals and pew Bibles.Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a television program in which a family – in this case, the Noah’s Ark Missionary Baptist Church family – receives a new or renovated home at no cost. The family – in this case, pastor Willie Walker, his wife Veronica, and their three children – is sent on vacation for a week. Volunteers – working 24 hours a day for about 130 hours – build and furnish the new home with donated services and material, from architectural drawings and drywall to nails and even pictures on the walls.
This is the first church building to receive Extreme Makeover’s attention.
More than 100 homes to date have received an Extreme Makeover from the program, which started airing in 2003. While all of them have been for “deserving” people or situations, the idea for the New Orleans finale was to bring the nation together to honor its heroes, said Diane Korman, senior producer of the show.
Extreme Makeover projects depend on local builders who volunteer their time, but “all the builders in town were already busy,” Korman said. “We called builder friends from previous shows to help out. It took an entire nation to pull this off.”
Noah’s Ark Missionary Baptist Church is a Southern Baptist congregation not far from the French Quarter.