One of America’s most popular reality television shows has done it again. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition made the Gomez family’s dream come true today in the Daybreak community. As thousands cheered, celebrity hosts Ty Pennington, Xzibit, Michael Moloney and Paige Hemmis finally told the crew to “MOVE THAT BUS,” revealing a brand new home for seven-year-old Jonah, his mother, Jessica, and fiver-year-old sister, Ellie.
“This has been such an amazing experience,” said an emotional Jessica. ”I want to thank the community for all of their support and time. My heart is full of love and gratitude towards everyone who has been involved in this project.”
The finished home, built and donated by Holmes Homes on land donated by Rio Tinto, is 3869 square feet with 878 square feet of unfinished basement. There is also a mother-in-law apartment that the Gomez family can rent out for additional income. While the show can’t reveal too much about the interior of the home, the exterior incorporates elements of copper, mined from Kennecott Utah Copper’s Bingham Canyon Mine, not too far from Daybreak. In keeping with Daybreak’s standards of sustainability the home is also energy-efficient, featuring 12 solar panels.
“We wanted to give the Gomez family everything we could to create a safe and sustainable lifestyle,” said Patrick Holmes, owner of Holmes Homes. “Thanks to tireless contractors, subcontractors and volunteers, hopefully now the Gomez family can focus on what’s most important, taking care of Jonah.”
Beyond being welcomed into a new home, Jessica, Jonah and Ellie were embraced by a whole community. In the course of the project, hundreds of national and local businesses donated money, food, and supplies. Almost 3,000 total volunteers donated more than 17,000 hours, assisting construction workers, painting, sweeping, planting and moving furniture and supplies. Additionally, countless hours were contributed by the city of South Jordan in the form of police, fire, EMS, and building inspectors. Real Salt Lake made countless effort in helping to find a bone marrow match for Jonah through Major League Soccer.
“We could not be more grateful to everyone who gave of their time and talents to make a difference in the life of the Gomez family,” said Ty McCutcheon, Vice President of Community Development at Rio Tinto, the developers of Daybreak. “We have truly come together here in Daybreak and demonstrated the power of this community to each other and to this nation.”
The episode will air on ABC sometime in the fall, and be part of the show’s 9th season, which will be moving to a new Friday evening time slot. Stay tuned for an update on an exact air date.
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