Published: October 24, 2009 09:51 pm      

‘Extreme Makeover’ hosting family day today

When Mark Gleason, an engineer at UPS in Westfield, heard about “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” coming to Miami County, he jumped into action.

Gleason arrived at 6 a.m. Saturday at Grissom Air Reserve Base, which is being used as a staging center for volunteers and spectators ready to go to work.

“I helped do some framing and plumbing, mainly plumbing in the crawl space,” Gleason said of the construction of the Cowan-Brown family home at 1040 S. 100 West.

“I’ll probably come back out here tomorrow too,” he said. “I helped in one ‘Extreme Makeover’ in Indy last year and thought it was a lot of fun.”

Anderson-based Hallmark Homes Inc. and hundreds of volunteers began construction on the home Thursday, and by 9 p.m. Friday evening, workers had the walls up and were beginning the first story. By Saturday afternoon, workers had the second and third floors in place and were hoisting up the rafters of the home.

The Cowan-Brown’s 12-year-old daughter, Kori, suffers from a congenital blood disease. She has raised $35,000 for the American Cancer Society, honoring a friend who suffers from cancer.

The family is currently at Disneyland in California and is expected to return home Tuesday to see the brand new home.

“It’s a amazing they can do all this in a week,” Gleason said as he left the work site. Crews have 106 hours to complete the home.

Buses donated by the Maconaquah School Corp., transported hundreds of volunteers and spectators to and from the work site all day and night during the construction.

Along with serving as a staging area, Hanger 20 at Grissom will hosted a live auction. Visitors could also get a bite to eat from one of several booths set up by area restaurants. All proceeds from the auction and food sales will go to the Cowan-Brown family.

Today will be family day at the build site. A magician, clowns and other family entertainment are planned from 1 to 6 p.m.

“It’s kind of neat to see this whole thing come together,” said Stephanie Tidd, who greeted people at the hanger, handing out information for people to win two free Indiana Pacer tickets. Her husband, Jim, also came to volunteer.

“It’s all about the people who donated all this nice stuff for the auction and the food businesses who volunteered. It’s been fun. Everybody is excited about helping this family. It’s great.”

Ralph Stone, of Peru, also was amazed at the outpouring of support for the Cowan-Brown family.

“We came out here to see the auction and then we’ll go to the work site,” he said. “This is the biggest thing that ever hit this area and it’s for a good thing.”

The auction began at 2 p.m. with an inspiring message from Winnie Schwinghammer, the wife of Hallmark Homes president Paul Schwinghammer.

“I have a tear in my eye seeing all you people here to volunteer and help,” she said. “We’re hoping to raise enough money to pay off their mortgage and help with their medical bills.

“I’m blown away,” she said as the auction kicked off.

“From the time we came into this area asking for donations, the people here really dug deep to help out. This wouldn’t happen without this community.”

Out at the work site, Gina Davis of Habitat for Humanity of Lafayette, came to see the progress on the home. Davis helped gut the family’s old house before it was demolished.

“We tore out all the light fixtures and other items left behind,” she said. “Then we took some of the items to resale with the proceeds going back to the family.

“This is exciting. When we heard about the Cowan-Brown family, we wanted to help. It feels good to give back to the community.”

Ed Turner, of Michigan, made the drive to help out and give something back to his former community.

“I had a home manufacturing business in Kokomo for nine years and decided to come back and help,” he said as he took a breather in a hospitality tent near the work site.

Chris Gibbs, a volunteer from the Cass County Civil Air Patrol, helped spread hay over the muddy field across the street from the work site to give volunteers and spectators better footing as they watched the flurry of workers.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s good to be able to help out the community like this.”

• Mike Fletcher is the Kokomo Tribune crime reporter. He can be reached at 765-454-8565 or mike.fletcher@kokomotribune.com.