Extreme Makeover Home Edition is doing a build in Poolesville this week. It’s an incredible story…a woman with 14 children (4 of her own, and 10 she adopted from her sister who died of cancer). They’ve been living in a hotel in Rockville, facing the constant threat of homelessness and being separated. Their new home is in Poolesville, off of Jeremiah Church Lane (location details are at: http://www.classicextreme.net/location.htm). The family just found out about this today, and the build will be taking place all week. The full press release is below. We’ll keep you posted throughout the week with daily media updates and press releases, as well.
ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Says “Good Morning” to a Montgomery County Family
Classic Homes of Maryland Joins ABC to Build Family Dream Home in Poolesville
Rockville, Md. – June 22, 2008 – The lives of Felicia Jackson and her fourteen children will be forever changed as they awoke this morning to Ty Pennington’s “Good Morning” wake-up call. The unsuspecting family was surprised by Ty Pennington and the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition team this morning when they learned they had been selected to receive the home makeover. Classic Homes of Maryland will join Ty’s team in making a family’s dream into a reality.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a race against the clock. The EMHE team, Classic Homes of Maryland and all of their designers, contractors and several hundred volunteers will work together to design a new home for the Jackson family, demolish their existing home, and build their dream home; all within seven days.
The Jackson family was selected to receive an Extreme Home Makeover out of thousands of applicants due to their amazing story of family, hardships, and survival. After growing up as a foster child in the state system, Mrs. Jackson grew up to raise her own family with four children she’d love dearly. However, she longed to find the family she never knew. After much searching, Mrs. Jackson was able to locate her birth sister, with whom she had been separated from as children. The two women reconnected, grew close and became family again.
However, tragedy soon struck. Mrs. Jackson’s sister lost her life to cancer. Since both women knew the hardships of growing up as foster-children, Mrs. Jackson pledged to her sister that she would not allow her children to become foster-children too. She adopted all 10 of her sister’s children, becoming a mother to fourteen. As a single mother, Mrs. Jackson has fought hard to maintain a stable environment for her large family. They now live in a hotel and Mrs. Jackson faces a continual risk of losing everything.
With the help of Classic Homes of Maryland, many donors and volunteers, EMHE will build the Jackson family a home they can call their own. In the span of a week, what would normally be a four-month project will be completed. And the family will leave the stressful and uncomfortable environment they currently call home.
“We are honored to be part of this project. The uncontrollable circumstances of life can make us all vulnerable. It’s a joy to see the community pulling together to help a family stuck in an unfortunate situation,” says Amita Jain, Vice-President of Classic Homes of Maryland.
Construction begins on June 23rd at the project location in Poolesvile. All members of the community are invited to join in anyway you can. Volunteer, donate, or simply cheer on the hard workers. For more information, please visit www.classicmd.net and follow the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition links.
About Classic Homes of Maryland
Classic Homes of Maryland, based in Rockville, Maryland, has been building homes for over 25 years. Their affordable, high-quality home designs are built on their customers’ land, offering an alternative to expensive custom homes built in developments. Customer choice motivates Classic Homes of Maryland, and customers are able to choose from a wide variety of home designs, finding a plan that is the perfect fit for their lot and their lifestyle. For more information visit www.classicmd.net or call 301-251-2001.
About ABC-TVs Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” which has won back-to-back Emmy Awards as Best Reality Program (non-competitive), is entering its 6th season on ABC. The program is produced by Endemol USA, a division of Endemol Holding. Anthony Dominici is the executive producer; and David Goldberg is the president of Endemol USA.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
9 comments:
This is a wonderful thing for these 14 children, but I have to wonder, why two unmarried woman can have 14 kids. Where are the fathers? However many that might be. The breakdown of the family will be the ruin of this country.
farm boy
Oh hell yeah, I live in Poolesville.
Alright! I love this show, it does incredible things for truly deserving people! It's nice to know there are still so many (contractors and volunteers)people who remember to give from the heart to reap the true rewards in life!
countrygirl@heart
This is in response to farm boy's comment: It's easy to judge or misunderstand when you don't quite know all the facts. Here is just a small insert from http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/News/press/PR_details.asp?PrID=4673
with a little more information that may help you to understand.
"Felicia Jackson was once a working mother of four with a good job and a husband. Having grown up with her siblings in foster homes, Jackson made a promise to her dying sister that she would care for the sister’s 10 children so that they would stay together and not become foster children after their mother’s death. When
Jackson’s family of four children suddenly grew to 14 (ranging in age from 3 to 17), she found that she could no longer keep her day job and had to take an evening job with less pay and benefits. Jackson also found herself as a single mother when her husband left."
there is only one judge and thats God and obviosly this is what he intended, or it wouldn't be happening. Congrats to the family and may this make their lives easier and happier. RIP to the lost sister and God Bless the generous sister who has one of the biggest hearts I have heard of.
i was actually there today!!! it was amazing when the family came home, they were all so happy to finally see there new home!
..the land where that they found is right across the street from where the 10 children's mother is buried.
You all need to get your story straight before you display it I am the little sister of Felicia and Cassandra and we never grew up in seperate foster homes (yaul don't know us get your story straigt)and there's only one baby daddy for Felicia and one baby daddy for Cassandra. So don't comment on us unless you know us personally. Thanks!!!!!!!
to "vonnie" if they each have only one "baby daddy" why are they not paying child support or helping to raise these kids? If they were good enough to have 10 keds off of they should be around to help don't you think?
that lady's the securty guard at my school!
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