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Bigelow Miracles do happen, even in the small town of Bigelow.
That miracle came Thursday to 10-year-old Job McCully and his family, the latest recipients of a new home from ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
The show, a product of carpenter and designer Ty Pennington, typically travels across the United States to provide needy families with their dream homes. The McCully family was in need of a new home in March, after learning their moldy home was harmful to Job, the receiver of bone marrow and lung transplants.
The home definitely brought a smile to the young boy's face when, surrounded by a crowd of people wearing blue and pink T-shirts bearing the show's logo, the young leukemia patient got to see it for the first time.
The unveiling was long anticipated by the boy and his family, who pulled up in a limo to the large crowd of people. Banners and signs welcomed the McCullys, as Pennington himself spoke and hugged members of the family.
Finally, after several cries of "Move that bus" from the crowd, Pennington yelled, "Show em!"
The bus pulled away to show the fully landscaped brick house. Job grinned ear to ear as his mother and grandmother cried, and spectators snapped photos with their camera phones. "Can we have some noise back there," yelled Pennington to the crowd, who answered with a roar of applause.
But the house was not simply a product of Pennington or ABC's generosity. Several members of the central Arkansas community lent their support, through monetary or building donations.
One such individual was Sherri Granger, the marketing manager of Conway Block, who donated blocks for the retaining wall surrounding one side of the house.
"We've been on and off the site all week long," she said.
Several Conway banks established accounts for donations to assist the family through the project, including First Security Bank and Bank of the Ozarks.
Another person to lend building supplies was Bill Robertson, the general manager of the National Home Center store in Little Rock. "Woodhaven (Homes Inc.) contacted us and we donated lumber," he said.
This is the show's second time to visit Arkansas. In 2005, Pennington and his crew came to Alma to give a new home to Colleen Nick, mother of still-missing Morgan Nick, her 6-year-old daughter who was abducted from a little-league baseball game in June of 1995.
(By Jerrica Ryan, Log Cabin Staff Writer.)
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