Aug 27, 2006 - 02:10:57 CDT
It was 3 a.m. Saturday. A perfect time, apparently, to do some yardwork.Because that's what some supposedly perfectly sane people were doing in a southwest Minot neighborhood.
Then, it was 4 a.m.
Agood time, apparently, to hang some pictures on the walls, finish decorating.
Because that was what the apparently rational and clear Pete Schneider, a corrections officer for the Ward County Jail, was doing.
Schneider, and about 3,800 volunteers from the Minot area, throughout the state and other states, did what they set out to do.
"It's amazing," Schneider said.
The amazing brand-new house that ABC-TV's reality show, "Extreme Makeover:Home Edition," built with volunteer help in one week was completed Saturday morning.
And then came the big moment.
But not right away.
The family that would get it as a gift and live in it - Bill and Michelle Bliven, and their three children, Kristen, 17, Taylor 13, and Aaron, 14, who is in a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy - had been whisked away. They were sent on a weeklong cruise while the house was built and were flying back to North Dakota for the big surprise.
They were to arrive maybe at noon Saturday, then at 1 p.m., then 2 p.m.
Delays. The crowd of hundreds that kept growing through the morning to greet them, standing in the hot sun, a lot of them, kept hearing that word.
But they didn't get even a little ugly. It seemed the opposite.
If the Blivens can endure, so can we, it seemed.
A crowd of people who well knew the challenges the Blivens had faced over the years - many of whom knew the family personally - somehow had stamina to burn while waiting.
It was an 80-plus oven, as they waited, buoyed by bottles of water and protected by sunblock being passed out by the show's crew. A high school drum line and cheerleaders kept the spirit going, as did impromptu chants back and forth between segments of the crowd.
"Extreme Makeover," which has surprised deserving people all over the country with new homes or major remodels of their extending homes, picked the Bliven family as their next target for a couple reasons.
The show's officials said the family's needs were growing in their relatively little house in Minot. Aaron's stiff, fragile body didn't fit well in the bathtub. And his wheelchair didn't fit through the small doorways, halls and stairs. But his dad, because of two heart attacks in the last year, can't lift his son. And medical bills made it hard to remodel. Also, Paul DiMeo, a designer for the show, said in a past interview that he was impressed with Michelle Bliven's efforts to start a special ball club in Minot, Dream Catchers, for people with disabilities.
So in addition to the house, the show's other project was to improve the community ball field where the Dream Catchers play.
Heritage Homes of Fargo, a 10-year-old company that has built homes ranging in price from $150,000 to $750,000, was picked as the general contractor.
Skilled tradesmen from all over the state and other states who wanted to contribute their skills were brought in. Help from the Bismarck area also showed up.
The project included moving the family's existing home off of its lot at 1701 Meadowlark Drive, so the new home, about twice as big, could be built. But help was also needed with furnishing the home.
One crucial piece of furniture needed was a new bed for Aaron, so he can sleep as comfortably as possible.
ABismarck man, Dean Sommerfield, found out about that need on Tuesday.
Sommerfield got a call from Great Plains Rehabilitation Center in Bismarck about that need. So Sommerfield wanted to do something and tracked down his boss, who was on vacation.
She told him to "do what it takes"to get it done.
Sommerfield is an account executive for KCI, which has an East Coast factory that makes special beds for situations like Aaron's.
Thursday morning, the factory stopped production on everything else, and 15 people were assigned to make a bed with a specially designed mattress.
The bed was finished the same day. It was flown into Grand Forks and then the manager of Old Dominion Freight Line used his personal truck to pick it up from Grand Forks and drive it to Minot, where KCIstaff met him to assemble the bed.
The new house even included some new clothes and food that were brought in to add to the surprise. The family's possessions were put in a van for them to do with what they want. Their old home was donated to Habitat for Humanity.
At about 2:05 p.m., the family arrived: Bill, a Target employee; Michelle, a high school teacher; and the kids. They got out of the limousine to crazy wild cheering from hundreds of people waiting for them. Aaron was carried out and placed in a wheelchair.
He needed help waving to the crowd, and his stiff body kept sliding down the chair's seat, and his mom needed to keep readjusting him in the wheelchair they put him in.
But for those who don't know him, there's a lot to know. He's much more than a bundle of physical problems.
"He's a smart kid," said Tyler Mack, 12, of Minot, a family friend.
Mack told the Tribune that Aaron can't get words out, can't speak, but he can write the words on his computer.
After some ceremony, and some explanation and introductions, the show's host, Ty Pennington, led the crowd in saying, "Move the bus."
The crew's big bus, which blocks the new home until it's time for the family to see it, moved. They saw what is possibly now the biggest house in the area. Big enough to get any wheelchair through. Apale yellow rambling ranch with large dormer windows on top, making it look like a two-story home. There's a wood-framed front porch and a cobblestone-looking sidewalk.
And the crowd was chanting, "We love you, Aaron. We love you, Kristen. We love you, Taylor ..."
Waterworks. The drought's over.
Or at least it was for a good long while in the 700 block of Meadowlark.
The show is expected to be broadcast sometime this fall.
A fund has been established to help the family pay off the mortgage on their old home and to help with medical costs and other expenses.
For more information on that, visit www.heritagefargo.com/extreme.
(Reach reporter Virginia Grantier at 250-8254 or at virginia.grantier@;bismarcktribune.com.)
Jeanine Roga Wernet wrote on Sep 5, 2007 9:10 AM:
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Give thanks to the Almighty Lord!! wrote on Aug 27, 2006 10:32 AM:
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