New Nickless family home revealed
HOLT – The cheers of, “Go Green, Go White!” and, “Move that bus!” were almost interchangeable Friday as the Nickless family finally had their new home unveiled by the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” crew.
There was a large MSU presence on Eifert Road, with appearances by MSU cheerleaders, volunteers who worked on the site throughout the week and of course, Sparty. Paige Hemmis, one of the members host Ty Pennington’s design team, even wore an MSU sweatshirt.
Members of MSU’s School of Planning, Design and Construction (SPDC) were on the site helping put the finishing touches on the home during the late morning. Miquel Kauppi and Meghan Rafferty, both interior design juniors, were members of the SPDC team at the site.
“It’s not really, ‘Oh, this is going to look good on our resume,’” Rafferty said. “It’s more of, ‘What can we do for them?’ instead of ourselves.”
Kauppi and Rafferty were spectators for the unveiling due to the fact the SPDC team had an overwhelming number of volunteers. Kauppi said being involved with the team working on the site was gratifying because of the scale and popularity of the show.
The show’s cast worked throughout the morning to keep the large crowd entertained as setting up for the unveiling took about two and a half hours longer than expected.
Pennington made his first appearance around 11:30 a.m., running out of the house into an Art Van Furniture truck, beginning to hand furniture to the volunteers gathered below. Hemmis went around the edges of the barricades separating spectators from Eifert Road, giving hugs and thanking people for coming out.
At around 3:30 p.m., the Nickless family finally arrived home and with one last, loud shout of “Move that bus!” from the crowd, Arlene Nickless and her three sons saw the dream home that had been built for them in under one week.
After a few minutes, the Nickless boys sprinted up the sidewalk into their new house as their mother leaned on Pennington for support.
The crowd, some of which arrived at 6:30 a.m. to see the revealing, cheered as loud as they had all week when the family stopped on the front porch to take one final breath before walking into their brand new home.
Published on Friday, October 3, 2008
Comments
this is stupid
10/03/08 @ 6:48pm
cool
Can someone explain...
10/03/08 @ 7:10pm
Can someone explain why I should be happy or even care about some family getting a free (and likely gaudy) house for no good reason?
Kevin
10/03/08 @ 8:13pm
What a great effort by a group of unselfish people.
Stephanie
10/03/08 @ 9:23pm
Wish more people could get this extra help. Not everyone is handed the same opportunities in life.
lol
10/03/08 @ 9:27pm
so 1 person gets a new house in MI and it hits the media, wow.. what a lame PR stunt. There are thousands and thousands of houses around MI and US that are destroyed. And when 1 family gets a new house in a slump like michigan, everyone is happy, crying and media all over it.
Sarah
10/03/08 @ 10:40pm
LOL —- learn more about the concept of the show. Thanks.
MJ
10/04/08 @ 12:21am
To the negative posts above, think twice before you write your next comments. Stop your negativity, it’s completely unnecessary and unwelcome. Spartans do not want, or need to be portrayed like that.
Live the life you’re dealt even if it sucks, and don’t go hating on other people’s joy. You only get one life, don’t bring other people down while you’re alive.
qingpeng
10/04/08 @ 1:01am
It is Cool!
Scott
10/04/08 @ 8:21am
This show, like all other programs that build & deliver the ‘dream house’ to ‘needing’ families is that in the initial contract, the family agrees to pay all local and state taxes with regards to renovations. Depending on the size of expansion or work done, families are often forced to take out additional home owners loans just to cover the ‘improvements’.
Lipstyx
10/04/08 @ 9:29am
Yes, there are many who are needy and I am sorry that we cannot help them all. Yes, this is a commercialization of philanthropy. But, let’s celebrate one person’s good fortune and the unselfish volunteers who participated, and not complain about what was NOT done for someone else. Should we stop building Habitat for Humanities homes because there are those who remain homeless? Perhaps this one event will prompt others to look for opportunities to assist those in need.
Tom Morrisey
10/04/08 @ 6:46pm
Don’t usually post under my real name, but I have to say… it’s kind of sick that people are criticizing this family for accepting a home. Did you know they had had plans to remodel their previous home, but then the family father, a nurse, died of a hep infection he contracted from a patient he worked with? I can’t imagine any family being more deserving. Those of you trashing them need to shut up.
jp
10/04/08 @ 7:13pm
The one thing I will ask though….is does a family need a huge mega house? In the lansing state journal, it stated that the family’s property taxes are going to go up by 300%. why not just build them a normal house, pay off their mortgage….giving a family the gift of being “debt free” would be the best gift of all. I am not saying that this family doesn’t deserve something good to happen to them, I just think that having to pay high taxes would stink.
Eric
10/04/08 @ 11:39pm
From MJ: “Live the life you’re dealt even if it sucks”
I totally agree. That is why I think people like Lipstyx, Morrisey, jp, and even MJ are fools. And that is why this show is ridiculous.
This show is NOT about helping people. It is about selling ad time. The show’s producers don’t care about people, they just care about the heart strings they can pull to increase their ratings. And the people who work on the house don’t care about the family, they only care about the warm feeling they get from it (i.e. in the end, they really just do it for themselves). I don’t care about the family either, I just wish people would admit that they’re assholes instead of putting on these absurd dog and pony shows.
ABC would do better to bring back ‘Cavemen’ than continue this garbage.
HfHer
10/05/08 @ 1:07am
“But, let’s celebrate one person’s good fortune and the unselfish volunteers who participated, and not complain about what was NOT done for someone else. Should we stop building Habitat for Humanities homes because there are those who remain homeless?”
I’ve worked on Habitat houses, and to compare this mass of commercialistic bullshit to Habitat for Humanity is insulting. Habitat helps provide homes to people in need. This show provides mansions to people with houses. The above poster is a total jerk, but he has a point.
This show sucks.
10/05/08 @ 10:43am
Did you know most of the people that get a new home end up selling it within a year because they can’t afford it?? Well, they do, and this family probably will, too. I don’t understand the need for extravagance, especially with this economy. Give me a reasonable house that isn’t ten times bigger than all the houses on the block and let me get out of debt. The woman just lost her husband, how is she going to afford this house??
Another thing, most of the people on this show are slobs that don’t take care of their house. They go into tiny houses that are packed with stuff and dirty. I understand having structure issues, but when the house is disgustingly dirty, why do you give them an even bigger house you know they won’t take care of?
Annnd what about the families that don’t get chosen? There was another family in Lansing that it was down to. How do you think they felt on September 26th when there was no knock on their door? I think they can take all the money they spend on one house and help hundreds of families. It’s a good concept, but not well executed. I agree, Habitat for Humanity is where it’s at.
Wow
10/05/08 @ 10:34pm
Lansing residents raised money to help pay off their mortgage.
Unhappy people spread it, just saying.
Amanda
10/09/08 @ 9:11pm
I can’t believe how ridiculous some of you guys sound. The nickless family has been through so much. Probably more than a lot of us will ever have to in through in our whole life. The father and and husband contracted a horrible disease and died less than a year ago. The remainder of his family have been blessed with this amazing opportunity, and you guys are calling them undeserveing. I don’t even know what to say to that. The nickless family are very deserving and the extreme makeover crew did an amazing job on the house. So quit critizing them, because you don’t even know them or what they have been through.
Student
10/14/08 @ 12:26pm
You guys are cold and heartless. Whenever your family needs help, no one’s going to be there.
I’m glad that the Nickless family was chosen. The family deserved it. Not every deserves this chance. They truly did.