Home improvement Dream project by LDS youths stuns North Ogden family
Hours-old sod in the front and back, a new trampoline, new wallpaper, new paint, new floors, new carpet, new furniture, new cabinets, new beds and new housewares transformed a 1940s-era prefabricated house into what now looks like a new home.
Talking about it later, Earl McKinley, who lives in the home with his wife and three grandchildren, was overcome.
"You sure know how to bring tears to an old man's eyes," he said.
It sounds exactly like the ABC show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
This was an extreme makeover, just not the name brand.
It was the first-ever Mountain Ward Makeover.
This summer, many of the youths in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will take trips with their respective wards to bond and learn from one another and their church leaders at youth conferences.
The 40 or so youths of the Mountain Ward in North Ogden's Coldwater Stake were content to stay right at home and sleep in their own beds.
But they rolled out of those beds before 7 a.m. every day for the past week to make over the 63-year-old McKinley home in their neighborhood.
The youths, ages 12 to 18, spent the past two months learning construction trades, such as pouring concrete, setting stone veneer and installing vinyl siding, as well as power tool safety and some demolition, to fix up Earl and Lynda McKinley's home.
The home was built in South Ogden in 1945 by the U.S. Department of Defense and moved to North Ogden shortly after.
The McKinleys added a second story and carport to the home but had never managed to finish it.
It had been known as the "half-blue house" for its sky blue wooden siding that only covered the exterior of the first floor.
The upper floor was covered in bare plywood, the driveway had sunk, and water damage had rotted away the subfloor in the kitchen.
Brian Glass, one of three grandchildren who live in the home with the McKinleys, had one word for it: "crappy."
"It was falling apart," Glass says.
Both of Glass's grandparents work full time Earl at night and Lynda during the day but they hadn't had the time or the resources to fix up the house.
Once the youths learned of the church's theme for its youth programs "Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works" the youths decided they wanted to do a construction project.
Reed Mackley, the Ty Pennington of the project, persuaded the McKinleys to let the youths learn some construction skills while working on their house.
Recent comments
I am so proud of the mountain ward for doing this project for this...
Cali | Sept. 8, 2008 at 12:51 a.m.
I have always believe in the power of our youth, they can change the...
Niny June 21 08 rexburg id | June 22, 2008 at 9:56 p.m.
Way to go teens and leaders. What a great way to show your wonderful...
SAW | June 16, 2008 at 3:16 p.m.
- Sub hears Yemenia black boxes 8:49 a.m.
- Iraqis skeptical about pullback 8:47 a.m.
- Spy chief's details on Facebook 8:46 a.m.
- Ramirez homers, but Padres win 1:56 a.m.
- Coast Guard plucks kayaker from sea 1:26 a.m.
- 16 dead in China floods 1:19 a.m.
- Sports on the air 12:46 a.m.
- Editorial: Ulster bridges divide 12:46 a.m.
- Obama deprives Iran of scapegoat 12:46 a.m.
- America stands as shining beacon 12:45 a.m.
- Stadium of Fire lights up the 4th
- Millsap valuable, not franchise player
- Utahn reunites with officer
- Can Jazz escape luxury-tax mess?
- Interest in Millsap dwindling?
- The BCS sure won't fix itself
- Obama deprives Iran of scapegoat
- Jazz talked Kirilenko for McGrady
- 'Tea party' protesters unhappy
- NKorea fires 7 missiles defying U.S.
- Boozer not opting out of contract
180 - Palin resigning as governor
101 - Lack of Obama photos concerning
99 - Utah leaner in too-fat country
91 - Don't listen to marriage cynics
87 - Palin's and Romney's roles in 2012?
86 - Editorial: A sad day for Utah
86 - Jazz plan to re-sign Millsap
81 - Jazz talked Kirilenko for McGrady
71 - Y. gets verbal from cornerback
69
The night was balmy though buggy at SPOC, the Stansbury Park Observatory...
"Hate mongers" -- I'm beginning to think that those who use that term are the...
It is not President Obama or his policies that are splitting America. The...
That was the dumbest comment I've ever read. Why does this have to be about...
The broader issue is why universities fund athletics in the first place....
BO thinks he's a good humanitarian because he is taking from the rich and...
the Jazz would be making a huge mistake by giving milsap more than $8...
Beattie is a solid guy with a track record of being consistent and working in...
Non-dare call it welfare!! This article highlights the weakness of...
I wonder what the attendance at the Stadium of Fire would be without the...
This quote of yours, "We do not insert ourselves in the struggles of other...



