Tuesday, October 18, 2005
An Indians announcer, an ex-player and the team mascot showed up at the site.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Several township departments are participating in the effort to make a new home a reality for an Arlene Avenue family.
Christina Griffith, deputy township administrator, said show representatives first contacted the township early last month about selecting the Novak family for an episode of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
Jeff Novak's wife, Jackie, died of a pulmonary embolism on Mother's Day, a few weeks after giving birth to the couple's third daughter, Presley. Her death left Jeff Novak to rear the baby and their other two daughters, Zoey, 6, and Harley, 2, as a single parent.
Family members have said that watching the show was the last thing the couple did together the night that Jackie died.
The family learned Oct. 12 that they would be on the show, and work started Friday morning to tear down the 76-year-old house. By Saturday morning, the framework of a new house stood in its place.
The new house, complete with new furniture and amenities is to be completed when the Novaks return from a Florida vacation, paid for by the show.
Helping out
Griffith said the township road department closed some roads surrounding the site Friday morning, and the Canfield Fair Board loaned the township pedestrian barriers to use during construction.
Members of the police department are on scene to help with crowd control, and the fire department wetted down the debris as excavators reduced the house to rubble last week.
The zoning department measured footers of the house to ensure plans comply with regulations.
"The show really runs like a well-oiled machine," Griffith said.
Although Trustee Tom Costello didn't know how much the township is spending to support the show, he believes it's worth the effort.
"It's a wonderful thing for our community," he said. "For a little bit of overtime to help this family, it would be a shame on us if we didn't do it."
Work continued Monday at the site with volunteers painting the outside window trim and cleaning up inside the house.
TC Quality Homes of Canfield is the lead builder for the project.
Paying a visit
The revelation of the new masterpiece to the Novak family is set for Wednesday afternoon.
Matt Underwood, announcer for the Cleveland Indians, and John McDonald, an infielder for the Detroit Tigers who is a former Indian and Mahoning Valley Scrapper, showed up Monday to watch the work while Slider, the Indians' mascot, posed for photographs with spectators.
"It's overwhelming to see a project like this going on and to see people giving and donating their time, money, supplies, whatever is needed," Underwood said.
It's emblematic of the people who live in this part of the country and this part of the state, he said.
"Youngstown is a lot like Cleveland -- when there's a neighbor in need, people are 500-deep lining up to help," Underwood said.
McDonald agreed.
"We just wanted to come down and say hello and thank you to all of the people who are doing the work," he said. "It's not something they had to do; it's something that they wanted to do."