The Usea Family / Season 5, Episode 25 / 05-18-2008

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 803 Labs, inc. is proud to congratulate the Usea Family and honored to design the album above presented to the family. This album, Photographed by Bart Baldwin and Cesar Palacio then designed and built out by 803 Labs, Inc.

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A message from the photographers.

I know I speak for both Cesar and myself when I say that we are truly trilled and honored to have been a part of this particular edition of Extreme Makeover Home Edition.  As a longtime fan of Extreme makeover I have watched the show and wished that I could be, even a small part of such a great, GREAT experience.  I even told my wife once  that if I just knew how to get involved I would take a week of vacation time just to volunteer so to be involved with documenting this makeover is truly a dream come true.  A friend of mine told me that Cesar and I were not “just” helping a couple a family and a church congregation have their dreams fulfilled, but we were actually taking part in the history of rebuilding New Orleans, and that was something we could be very proud of.  We are so honored… Words cannot describe what a great experience this was.

These photographs represent the stories that you don’t get to see on the show.  The stories of the builders and the volunteers who literally work around the clock and went for days without sleep.  The stories of the workers that worked through the night and sometimes for 20 or 30 hours straight so that things would get done and the get done right.  One of the builders, Harry Dill from Sterling Homes said “The reality is that you can’t pay people to do what we just did here”, and he’s right.  The sacrifice and blood, sweat and tears (literally) is not something that people do for money.  They do it for the knowledge that they actually made a difference in someone else’s life.

Having been involved with several makeovers I’ve learned that it’s not just Ty and the rest of the designers that get to have one of the greatest “feelings” that you can experience, that of helping others.  It’s not limited to the many TV crew members that it takes to carry off such an ambitious project of filming the building of a house in seven days… nor is it limited to the builder’s and their crews… The reality is that it takes literally thousands of volunteers, so the magnitude of how many people get to know that they made a difference in someone else’s life is truly humbling.

I was fortunate enough to listen to the director of the show when he spoke to the crew just before bringing the Usea family home.  In expressing his gratitude to the crew he told them that even though they “just produce a TV show” they can be proud of what they do.  He spoke of family after family that, because of what they do, have a warn home to sleep in, and a safe place to live, many for the first time in their lives.  That was a moment I will never forget for as long as I live…!

Today, with all the hustle and bustle of life, and all the “bad” we tend to see in the news and in the papers, it’s projects like Extreme Makeover Home Edition that give us hope in ourselves   These two makeovers in New Orleans exemplify the ability of people to show compassion to those who, through self sacrifice have cared more to take care of others than themselves.  They were not mere acts of kindness for a few who need it.  These makeovers truly stand as a symbol of hope to a city and a nation, that when times get tough we Americans step up and help our brothers and sisters in need.

To the Usea family we would like to wish you years of happiness in your new home, and to the Noah’s Ark congregation we hope that your new “home” gives you the opportunity to help those in your community and to change lives with a wonderful message of hope. To Extreme Makeover Home Edition and the builders we want to thank you so very much for letting us play a part in these building projects.

Bart Baldwin and Cesar Palacio
Photographers – StillImageProductions.com

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