“I spent a lot of time on that house, it was hard work. You fight a battle with something like that, it’s easier to fight a battle overseas because something like that (struggling to repair a home) will beat you down!” Sherman Heathcock
“We are so thankful for everyone in this community who came together to do this for us. This is not just a house to us. It’s a blessing to us! It’s going to change our lives. It’s giving our children back a father and it’s giving me back a husband. There are no words to express how we feel!” Gina Heathcock
Southern Miss School of Mass Communication and Journalism Blog
Day 8: December 10th, 2009
8:00 a.m. – We’re up bright and early at the job site! It’s a little chilly but it hasn’t stopped the volunteers from making sure the house is ready for the big reveal today!
8:30 - The volunteers are frantically adding the finishing touches to the landscaping in front of the house and by sanding the walkway.
9:00 – A swarm of relatives from Alabama have flooded the spectator area bringing with them good tidings, holiday cheer and posters that read “Alabama cousins are extreme” in hopes of being caught on film by the Extreme crew.
9:30 – A volunteer is setting up a light pole out front. It looks especially festive as close to the Christmas season as we are and really ties the yard together.
10:00 – Furniture has arrived! John, Paige, and Michael have a crew of volunteers unloading all the furniture from an Ashley’s home store truck. The chairs and armoires that are going in look very elegant. The Heathcock’s are in for a treat.
11:00 - Scott Holmes, volunteer coordinator stopped by to give us the scoop on some special gifts for the Heathcock family. “We wanted the ornaments to show our Christian spirit and our support of the true meaning of Christmas,” said Holmes. “We also wanted to give the Heathcocks an opportunity to give something back to the community that has given them so much.”
City Glass donated over 200 pieces of glass to be used for Christmas decorations and Michael’s donated the paint. Volunteers spent hours decorating the glass squares. Donna Woods and Kelly Thornton formulated the design on each ornament. The house on the ornaments resembles the Heathcock home and the pine tree is representative of the Pine Belt.
12:30 – We just talked to one of the producers, He said they’re hoping to have everything done by 3:00, but there’s still a good bit left to do. Everyone is really excited! They are cleaning the windows and finishing up the final touches on the exterior of the house. The crowd is already cheering anticipating the arrival of the family.
1:00 – One of the builders told us that this was “More than just building a house for a family, we built a house for people that we know, which made it more special than anything.” Concerning the family, he said “I just think they’re going to be blown away!”
1:45 – The crew just put in the last tree in the front yard and the have started putting up the flag pole. People are lining up on both sides of the street waiting for the revealing.
2:20 - It’s crazy down here. We keep thinking that the family is here, but they are just filming other shots. All of the designers are running around trying to get everything ready for when the family arrives!
2:38 – Christian Slater, Johnny Littlefield, Army guys and the Sheriff Deputies just got the flag pole up! This is coming down to the wire!
3:20 – Still waiting on the family…We talked to Susan Adema who brought 30 men in to do the flooring. She said, “This was quite a task considering all of the weather that we had in the middle of the process. Someone asked me if she was bored during the 16 hours it took her guys to lay all of the ceramic tiles and laminate, but I told them there was no time to be bored! We were too busy getting the job done. The goal is to complete it in the time given and they did, worked through the night but they did.”
3:41 - The crowd is screaming for the family as they pull down the street, everyone crowds together trying to get the best view of the limo. Ty welcomes them out and the family immediately begins to cry as a sense of awe washes over them. Hundreds of people came out to support them, several of them are waving American flags and signs that say “We support our troops!” If they didn’t before, now they know that the entire community was behind them during this whole process.
4:00 – The crowd begins to chant “Move that bus!” As the bus pulls away, the family is overwhelmed with excitement to see their knew house. There’s not a dry eye in sight as the family begins to hug one another. The builders come up to show their support and the family begins to hug them and the designers as well.
4:15 – The family rushes to their new home. When they reach the porch, the mother looks at her children and cries, “I know, I know! I’m excited too!!” as she jumps up and down. The crowd continues to cheer as the family finally enters their new home that everyone worked so hard on.
Scott Thornburg, Katie Ford, Leslie Burge, Kyle Neaves, Samone Faulkner, Carly McCrary
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