Volunteerism is alive and well in Western New York. That point was well proven this past week as the hit ABC show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" descended upon Buffalo and erected a new house on Massachusetts Avenue.
Some 4,500 people signed up to volunteer on the week-long project, with hundreds more turning up daily hoping to lend a hand. As a result, not only was the house for the show built, but the overflow of volunteers set about fixing up nearly 50 other homes in the surrounding neighborhood.
The transformation of one of Buffalo's most needy neighborhoods showed the world quite a bit about the people of the Niagara Frontier. It showed that we're caring and philanthropic. It proved that we can lend a hand to our downtrodden with the best of them. It showed the world that Chris Berman's iconic phrase about us circling the wagons extends beyond the gridiron. It also proved that we're a big bunch of media whores.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." The wife and I tune in every Sunday night and usually have to wipe away a host of tears when the big reveal of the new home happens and the cameras catch the reaction shot of the family. There's something about watching deserving folks realize the answer to their prayers that touches the soul.
The cast, led by host Ty Pennington, come across as genuine folks who love what they do. When Pennington closes each show with his "Welcome home" salutation, I find myself awash with the possibility of volunteerism and what the impact could be right here in the Cataract City.
That's the rub, really. Why are people just now saying things like, "This could be the start of something great?" What did "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" bring to the table that we didn't already have in spades in Western New York? The answer, of course, is TV cameras.
Getting volunteers together is an arduous project. Three years ago, I started the group Niagara Rises to help the city of Niagara Falls. The group's goal is to work on real-time projects that will impact the future of this city. One of the projects we're pursuing is the revitalization of neighborhoods by repairing broken and abandoned homes and pairing them up with graduating college seniors.
I'm proud to report that we've got some 400 members -- 30 of whom do 90 percent of the heavy lifting. It was damn hard to find those 30, and I thank God for them every day.
It's not just Niagara Rises that struggles with finding volunteers. Ask them at Community Missions, Carolyn's House, Heart and Soul, or just about any other local not-for-profit about the last time they had 4,500 people turn up to work on a project. Be prepared to experience laughter in its most unbridled form.
We live in communities begging for the citizenry to get involved. Apathy consumes us in the way empathy consumed past generations. Our neighborhoods are dying before our eyes, and still far too few of us are involved in any meaningful way in the fight to make a difference.
And yet thousands of folks turned up to work in front of the network cameras on Massachusetts Avenue. On the day of the big reveal, folks had to be bused in from exterior lots so that city streets wouldn't get clogged and become impassible. If it weren't so fleeting, it would have been a thing of beauty.
I wonder how many of those volunteers had ever been into the rough-and-tumble West Side neighborhood of Buffalo before "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" came to town? Maybe the better question is: Will they ever go back?
Here's my question: Why do we need a television program's involvement to do what happened in Buffalo last week?
According to the Web site allwny.com, there are 35 local home builders and developers. If each one of them offered their services to do one home build for a deserving family each year, we could impact many lives. If the same thousands of volunteers turned up for each build and set out to fix up the surrounding houses of the neighborhood the way they did on Massachusetts Avenue, we could impact our own destiny.
Our Waterloo is at hand. We are hemorrhaging people at a pace that even tourniquets can't match. Our poverty and illiteracy rates are far above the national average. One in five homes in Niagara Falls is abandoned or derelict. If we don't act now, in big "think outside the box" ways, there won't be anything worth saving.
So how about it, home builders: Are you each up for one gratis home build annually to benefit Western New York families? And how about you "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" volunteers: Are you in if they're in?
If home restoration isn't your philanthropic drug of choice, there's no shortage of organizations awaiting your call. Aside from the ones mentioned earlier, Habitat for Humanity, Buffalo ReStore, PUSH, Grassroots Gardens, Brush up Buffalo, the United Way and Catholic Charities would all be delighted if the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" volunteers decided to continue their philanthropic ways by working in the community.
The community calendar at niagararises.com routinely has listings for organizations looking for volunteers. Your opportunity to get involved and make a difference is just a mouse click away.
The bottom line is that there's no magic bullet, no panacea for what ails us as a community. There's no knight in shining armor who's going to ride to our rescue. There's only us, and it says here that that's all we need.
We can celebrate a new home built in 35 of the 52 weeks of 2010 if we simply maintain the spirit we showed to the nation last week when ABC was in town filming.
If the other home builders are willing to match what David Homes contributed, and if people are willing to work in anonymity with the same verve and vigor that they did when the red camera light was blinking, we can get down to the real business of saving our neighborhoods for our children's children.
Let's build 35 new homes in 2010. Let's restore 35 neighborhoods. No lights, no cameras -- are you still up for the action?
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | November 17 2009 |