TOOLS GOING TO YOUTH BUILD
by Amanda Smith-Teutsch
BOARDMAN — More than the Novak family will benefit from ABC's
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.'' Tuesday, Darrell "Big D'' Payne, lead
carpenter on the television production, presented some of the power
tools used on the Novak home to the Youth Build Trumbull County program.
"Bottom line is we're making a TV show,'' Payne said to Tony Perrone, special projects manager for Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority, and to Jolene Baldado, manager of Youth Build. "What you're doing is what makes a difference.''
The home belonging to Jeff Novak on Arlene Avenue will be handed back over to the family today.
Novak's wife, Jackie, died at age 28 on Mother's Day of a pulmonary embolism, leaving Jeff to raise three girls alone. Hundreds of volunteers teamed with the television crew to demolish the house and rebuild it in less than a week.
Baldado said students from Life Skills Center of Trumbull County have the opportunity to enter the Youth Build program while earning their high school diploma.
"We will have a house we're working on, and the students will rebuild, remodel and rehabilitate it so a family who maybe couldn't afford a home of their own can have one,'' Baldado said. Youth Build uses vacant, dilapidated houses that have been foreclosed by Warren for the job training. The students learn plumbing, carpentry, electrical work, masonry, trimming and a bit of everything else during the nine-month program. When they graduate, they qualify for a building trades certificate and can enter their apprenticeship in building trades.
"It gives the students a chance to find out what they like doing and what they want to do,'' she said. Perrone said that when he heard the home makeover show was coming to the Mahoning Valley, he thought it was a perfect opportunity to showcase the talents of the Youth Build program. He e-mailed the show, with some of the students offering to volunteer to help on the house.
Payne called earlier this week and said that while the show had more than enough volunteers, he was interested in donating some of the used power tools to the educational program.
"We're all in this together,'' program student Anthony Stowers said. "We can do great things together.'' The tools will help the students with their studies, he said.
Gerry Bean of the Life Skills Center said the three-year relationship between the school and Youth Build has been beneficial to the students. "It really gives the students the chance to learn something they can take with them,'' Bean said.
The show donated nearly $600 worth of power tools, including saber saws, nail guns and belt sanders.
Originally published in the Warren Tribune Chronicle