EXTREMELY HAPPY Gifts keep rolling in -- along with new car

By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Move that car!
A piece of dried tree branch plunked off the shiny white hood of the new 2006 Ford Freestyle in the driveway of Jeff Novak's extremely made-over home on Arlene Avenue.
It had just been delivered as a gift by 10 area Ford dealers, and he'd just been handed the keys. Now that big tree next to his driveway wanted to christen it with falling debris. It would have been better off out of reach farther back in the drive, but Novak never even noticed.
It had been a long week for him. He'd enjoyed a vacation in Daytona Beach, Fla., with his three young daughters.
"Florida was great. The first family vacation we had in a long time," he said.
He and the girls had come back Wednesday to a new house, courtesy of the ABC show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," and a lot of donations from community businesses.
Happy family
The girls, he said, were going to have to come back down to earth at some point, "but right now, they're really happy." Every room in the house, he said, was "perfect to a T."
He'd learned about the car an hour before it was to be presented, he said, but he was still in shock about it.
And, he looked media-shy. "I don't like my picture taken," he admitted.
But Friday, he was the focus of more community and media attention as a crowd gathered on his lawn and across the street to see him get the car.
Other gifts were presented as well.
The smell of burning mortgage was in the air as Home Savings made sure he never had to make a house payment.
Youngstown State University and the YSU Foundation partnered to present him with three full-tuition, four-year scholarships for the girls, Zoey, 6; Harley, 2; and Presley, 5 months.
About the mother
"Their mother was an alumna of YSU, and we decided they ought to become part of the YSU family too," said George McCloud, head of YSU's advancement division. He and C. Reid Schmutz, president of the foundation, presented Novak with three empty diploma covers for the girls' degrees.
Jackie Novak, 28, the girls' mother, died of a pulmonary embolism on Mother's Day. She was a 2001 YSU graduate with degrees in secondary education and chemistry, said McCloud. She taught at Jackson-Milton High School for three years before her death, he said.
"When those kids are ready for college, it will be paid for," McCloud said.
Burgan Real Estate of Boardman made sure Novak doesn't have to pay property taxes for the next five years.
And Keith Bell, a Channel 33 news photographer, gave Novak a drawing of Jackie by local artist Bill Dotson. Bell said the drawing was based on a photograph he'd gotten from Novak's mother-in-law.
"Thank you very much," Novak said in acknowledgment of the gifts. "It keeps coming out of my mouth, but it doesn't cover it all."