11/07/09: 4,500 WNY Volunteers Help Buffalo ‘Extreme Makeover’

BY NICKI MAYO
Buffalo’s Delores Powell’s eyes filled with tears as she watched more than one thousand volunteers in blue shirts and white construction hats march down Massachusetts Avenue. Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown headed the mass filled with AmeriCorps volunteers and Western New York construction crews.
Their mission: to perform and “Extreme Makeover” on the Niagara District home.
Powell is a Jamaican immigrant and Buffalo community activist who moved to the United States 22 years ago in search of the American Dream. Then Powell worked as a home health aide making $100 a week.
“I came here and I found out that it was a really nice place and I love it so much,” said Powell hugging one of her children.
ABC’s “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” show wants to give the Powell family a dream house.
“You see it on television and now it’s happening to you. I was so overwhelmed with joy. I was shaking. It was mixed emotions it was joy,” added the anxious mother of four. Soon Deloress and her children, Joel, 18, Gabrielle, 16, Deborah, 15, and Anschel 10 will have a new space to call home. A limo whisked the family away to the airport in route to Disney World, while crews work around the clock to demolish and rebuild the house.
“It’s so exciting to being so many Western New Yorkers together to help western New York, “said WNY AmeriCorps Director Mark Lezzara.
The volunteers carried pairs of shoes to donate to families in need back in Powell’s native Jamaica. More than 4,500 volunteers signed up to work on the Extreme Makeover project. There’s also more than 500 people on a waiting list who want to volunteer.
AmeriCorps volunteers plan to touch up 40 additional houses around Massachusetts Avenue. Some of which will undergo extensive green environmentally friendly renovations.
“About 20 of them will have more significant things. Siding, painting, we’re going to be building a community garden,” said Lezzara.
“We’ve been working very hard to make every build a green build. The greener the better. From what I understand this may be one of the greenest houses we’ve ever done,” said Extreme Makeover Home Edition’s Eduardo Xol.
“We are behind this and we’re going to make a difference in their life. Part of those volunteers are going to make a difference in many lives here on Massachusetts,” added Lezzara. The Extreme Makeover project is not just rebuilding one home. They have plans to improve several. They will also turn some of the vacant lots into community gardens.
“I think we’re going to make an attempt to recycle every single part of the house,” said Xol. The son of Mexican immigrants says he identifies with seeking the American Dream and hopes the project will strengthen the Niagara District community.
“We’ll hopefully leave something that the community will continue to build on. But I also want to say we’re also coming into a community that’s already doing it,” said Xol.