Local 1 Pennsylvania/Delaware Lends Hands and Heart to “Extreme Makeover”

Front row, from left, Field Representative George Posner, Organizer Joe Battaglia, and Apprenticeship and Training Director Bob Powers. Back row, from left, Home Makeover’s Preston Sharp, Field Representatives Dennis Pagliotti and Tim Sheldon, and Brick Instructor Scott Ferris.

Life has always been a little harder than average for the Py family. When Carole and William Py’s daughter passed away from breast cancer seven years ago, she left behind three small children. Just one year earlier, a brain aneurysm had claimed the life of her husband.

The Pys decided it was vital for their grandchildren to stay together. Without a second thought, they adopted all three children and began a second phase of parenting at a time when they could have been enjoying their golden years.

Although the Pys are enjoying raising their grandchildren, they realized some significant home renovations were needed. The house, built in the 1950s, had lead paint on all of the windows, asbestos in the basement, a cracked foundation, and a seriously evident “lean.”

The Pys submitted an application to participate in ABC’s hit television series, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and in late March host Ty Pennington and his crew showed up at the Py’s home in Philadelphia to help make their dream come true.

Members created a brick back-up wall for shelving in one of the children’s rooms.

When the show’s production staff began to solicit volunteers for the project, Local 1 Pennsylvania/Delaware stepped into the picture. The show needed their help in renovating one of the children’s rooms using red brick that once lined the patio. The one problem was that there were not enough brick to complete the project. Six members of Local 1 PA/DE – Field Representatives George Posner, Dennis Pagliotti, and Tim Sheldon, Apprenticeship and Training Director Bob Powers, Organizer Joe Battaglia, and Brick Instructor Scott Ferris – lent their expertise, cutting the brick in half lengthwise to cover the façade. The project took members roughly three days between cutting the brick at the Local’s Training Center with the help of apprentices Nick Ferber and Anthony Cianci, and laying the brick at the site. Tilesetters Joe Downy and Bill Moser working for James Tile also worked on the project installing tile in one of the bathrooms.

All in all, the project was an overwhelming success. The show aired on ABC on April 30, 2006. Pictures of the Py’s renovated home can be viewed
at http://abc.go.com/primetime/xtremehome/gallery.