ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” Rebuild in New Orleans

A New Orleans family in Westwego has a new home thanks to the crew of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  Firefighter Brad Usea and his wife Laura’s home was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.  The couple had extended their single-family home to Brad’s mother and two brothers after the storm, only to receive more damage from tornadoes in February 2007, which destroyed a trailer in the couple’s backyard that one of Brad’s brothers, Chris, had been residing. 

The Usea’s home was the last stop on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’s 50-state tour.  The project was an unprecedented effort to put together a coalition of past builders from all over the country and called on the Building Industry to join forces and help with what may be their toughest challenge yet.

United Way’s Nicole Saulnier-Timmons, Steve Zimmer and Beth Terry each worked to secure $5000 in gift cards from Bed, Bath & Beyond for the family to buy small appliances, linen dishes and more for their new home.

"Even three years later, the gulf region is still suffering in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and I believe it is going to take the entire nation to rebuild, which is why it makes sense that we would need an extreme coalition of builders from all across this country to pull together and help make a difference in New Orleans for deserving families on the show." Says Denise Cramsey, Executive Producer for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

First on board was Deltec Homes, who gathered construction talent from their home state
of North Carolina including The EcoBuilders, Round House Consulting and Jones Construction and from all over the gulf region including G & S Construction and Shultz Construction from Mississippi, and Dana Dugas Affordable Homes, Inc., NSC Construction, inc., David W. Stewart, Inc., and Rutledge Builders and St. Bernard Parish-based Barker Homes from Louisiana.

“To make a real difference along the gulf coast will take the nation. We make that step by bringing builders together, some who lost their houses and business, and others we have met in our fifty-state tour,” says Conrad Ricketts, Executive Producer, “Together we will show the nation that the impossible are just words.”

The Leadership team from past builds consisted of Sterling Homes of South Carolina, Simmons Homes of Oklahoma, Jeff Junkert Construction of Montana, Heritage Homes of North Dakota, Shoemaker Homes of Mississippi, Alure Home Improvement of New York, Capitol Homes of Tennessee and Atreus Homes, and Communities of North Carolina, Georgia, New Mexico and Arizona. Each team gathered volunteers, subs and trades from each state and traveled to New Orleans for the week of the build.

The Design team for this episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” featured team leader Ty Pennington and designers Michael Moloney, Paul DiMeo, Tracy Hutson, Paige Hemmis, Eduardo Xol and Ed Sanders. The episode is the season finale and will air on May 18th as a two-hour show.

“Ending our 50-state tour in Louisiana tells the nation about the importance of family, extended family, neighborhood and community. And how we as a nation can join together to help rebuild,” says Ricketts.