Helping hands: Kalispell volunteers work on 'Home Makeover' project

Christmas came early for an Idaho family in need, and a group of Kalispell volunteers got a chance to help.

Sarah Lynch, a loan processor at First Horizon Home Loans in Kalispell, and her parents, John and Kathleen McClure, were part of the massive volunteer effort last month that helped build and furnish a new three-bedroom home for the Eric Hebert family as part of the ABC reality TV show, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

Three other First Horizon employees from Kalispell - mortgage consultant Kelly Siblerud, branch manager Dee Peck and financial services manager Amy Skibinski - also traveled to Sandpoint to help out. All of the volunteer duties already spoken for, but they stayed to watch the family return home and were part of the cheering crowd.

First Horizon Home Loans was one of the co-sponsors for the Sandpoint home and helped finance the project. The show will air sometime in January.

"It's a neat atmosphere to be in," Lynch said. "Everyone's so excited to be there."

In less than a week, the crew tore town Hebert's old home, a daylight basement with a roof, and built a spacious new one. Hebert's sister died in April 2004 and he gained custody of her twins.

Lynch marveled at the orchestration of the entire effort. A computer on the grounds, sheltered with a makeshift wooden roof, spelled out the details in spreadsheet after spreadsheet.

"They filmed the volunteers; it showed us scurrying around," Lynch said. "It's organized chaos."

Once the Kalispell trio donned their trademark blue "Home Makeover" shirts and hard hats, Lynch and her mother worked on the home, scrubbing plastic film off the siding and tidying up inside. John McClure was put to work landscaping. He planted shrubs and laid sod, then helped build a playhouse fashioned like a castle for Hebert's 8-year-old niece and nephew.

"It does your heart good to be part of helping someone else, especially this time of year," John McClure said.

He, too, was struck by the intensity at which the project proceeded, tearing down the old house and bringing a new one to completion in under a week.

Lynch said she and others were putting the finishing touches on the interior just an hour before the family returned home for the classic ending of the show, the unveiling of the house.

Led by show team leader Ty Pennington, a crowd of thousands from the Inland Northwest chanted "move that bus." Once the bus was rolled away, Hebert and the twins were able to inspect their new abode.

"The uncle was so humbled," Lynch said. "Their whole lives are going to be different."

Siblerud said it was heart-warming to witness the homecoming.

"I believe it's true what they say, that it's the community the makes the project," she said.

Seeing is believing, Lynch said.

"We've seen it. They can build a house in seven days," she said, "and they don't cut any corners."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com