Ty Pennington talks with Mark & Theresa about what he saw on the New Jersey coast after Sandy hit, he previews the four holiday specials of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, talks about kid energy, and what might be next.
Mark: And you’re inside my Fix-It-Up Life with my wife Theresa.
Theresa: And my husband Mark.
Mark: And the road noises you hear in the background are the tires of Ty Pennington’s car slapping down the highway somewhere.
Ty: That’s right, that’s right. I’m always moving. Those are the wheels of change moving.
Theresa: Oh, I like that.
Mark: Oh, I just thought they were like Uniroyals, or something.
Theresa: Bringing about the wheels of change across our country. I love that. I feel so comforted by that.
Mark: Before we get to where you have been in the storm-affected areas of Sandy out in Jersey, where are you now?
Ty: I am actually in Florida, just north of Orlando where I got a couple of projects I’m working and also seeing some friends that live nearby. So, sort of like killing two birds with one stone.
Theresa: Wow, friends.
Mark: You have time for that now?
Ty: Well, sort of, yeah. I don’t ever really have time to do nothing. I’m just always doing different things. So, I’ve got all kinds of cool things going on that are building-related but I’ve just been in New York where I couldn’t even get back into because my place was wrecked too, but I went down to a town in New Jersey [inaudible 00:01:39] to check out what I could do to help out the Sandy victims. We’re always making deals I’ve been lucky to be a partner with Sears forever and as soon I saw the outlet, I called them and the next thing you know they rallied and they got in contact with the K-Mart that is in charge of everything, which is right there where they had to be affected, and they loaded up a truck full of water and blankets and batteries and supplies and it was great to be able to take what was really needed but, during that time, we also got to really see what was going on.
We tried to get up on the barrier islands there, and they’d shut it all down like it was inhabitable, nobody is living there. So I went to their local high school where they put a shelter and just to see them like that, the heart wrenching stories of people who lost everything. It was rough. We also met some fire fighters who also lost everything they had and they took us over and saw some of the damage and I met this one couple that was standing in front of their house and a wall of water just took it out. I don’t know, it was really rough. I’ve been to so many tough places, I’ve been to Biloxi, I’ve been to New Orleans afterwards, but to be there literally a day or two after it happened and still see it, it was really eye-opening. It’s going to take a while before the rebuilding can start but it’s like, wow, talk about a need.
Theresa: That is amazing, to be able to be there just a few days afterwards, I imagine. We were at Joplin last year and seeing a place like that months after. There has been a lot of cleanup and there’s been a lot of good people helping and working, but just to see really what’s going on, really in the time of when it’s happened.
Ty: Seeing the raw emotion. These guys literally … This one couple, in their 90’s, who had no idea what to do and, thank God, there were people there who could bring them into shelter. That’s when you realize, oh my God, think about your other relatives and what would happen if that would happen to your family member and you didn’t know what to do for them. Then, there’s another couple that, they went down to their house and they had their dad with them, who had built a house in the ‘60s and he turned around and started crying. He didn’t want to see what it had become. He wanted to remember what it was. Just the devastation everywhere we saw. What was really crazy is we’ve seen all the different boats that were like just up against these houses and then this one couple, their kids toys were spread everywhere throughout like the whole cul-de-sac. Then, I think really, too, is realizing that how many of them had been built in the last ten years that had a second story, and all that, that were still standing, but the ones that were older than that, were just completely gutted. It’s weird that the people who bought homes right on the water, not expecting the tide to ever come up. And I was going “wow”, so it really opens your eyes about how homes should be built, especially on any coast.
Mark: Oh yeah, having been to New Orleans after Katrina, and I grew up on Cape Cod, so water is a big part of my life. if you’re living on the coast and you’re not 12 feet above sea level on pilings, I’m not sure what your plan is.
Ty: Right, unless you’re an ark. It’s true.
Mark: And this is a good time to announce your new project, Ty Pennington’s Ark.
Ty: Yeah, seriously though. Down there, my lord, that’s what’s crazy. The only thing that survived are the things that float. You know, that’s what’s amazing is, it’s just wild, to see what you saw. The kind of boats that, from a mile away, just washed all the way. It’s just crazy.
Mark: Now, when you were trying to navigate down there, even with these fire fighters taking you around and stuff, were just street after street blocked by, I don’t know, trees, telephone poles, boats, cars. Did you have to circle around and around and around to get to places?
Ty: The police, the law enforcement, had locked down any roads that lead, they basically turned it into a formal site. If you were going to go in that direction, you had to go through where they were directing you. Eventually, you really had to know a fireman or a policeman to get to that.
Mark: To get to anywhere? That’s crazy.
Ty: It was wild, too because then you went to the firehouse and you saw all these firemen who had been up for … You have to remember, too, they’d been going non-stop for seven days because they started they started preparing basically Sunday because they knew the storm was coming Monday but they just knew that something was going to happen. The fire department definitely knew something was going to happen but what was interesting is nobody ever got a break. It just kept coming and coming. Rescue this, save that, rescue this, save that, and the guys just never got a break and you realize why those guys, they just don’t fight fires and, the next thing you know, getting water to areas where people, they just put it out on the corners so that people know that supplies are coming, if they’re stuck somewhere, and they’re also bringing in generators to get power wherever needed, but the fact that there are so many people, especially the ones on Statin Island, who just barely got power now. It’s just opens your eyes to natural disasters and how we all need to really have a little bit better understanding of what we need to have in our garage in case something like this happens again.
Theresa: That is really such an important point. And we learned that, too. We were without power here, outside of Philadelphia for five days and it was cold, but we didn’t go through what everybody else experienced on the coast and in New York City, but just getting a little piece of that. We don’t have a generator at our house. We probably should.
Mark: No, we don’t, although we could hook me up to a treadmill and get the lights going.
Theresa: Better you than me, better you than me. Or maybe bottle up our four-year-old’s energy and be able to power it off of that.
Mark: He could light a grid, whatever that is.
Ty: That’s actually a thought I had, that’s a thought I had. We did a build for Extreme where, basically, they fed the homeless, so we gave them a whole new kitchen and what they could do in there, but we also gave them a secondary area for the people’s kids, and their own kids, and I was trying to figure out a way that they could use kinetic energy to power the house by the playground. How awesome would that be if you could create a playground where, if you got the kids to play, they would generate energy that would actually go back to the grid in your house?
Theresa: Yes!
Ty: To keep the lights on, “Kids, seriously, we need you go outside and get on the seesaw. We need some lights”.
Theresa: Just keep swinging on that swing. Just keep going. Just keep going. That would be awesome.
Mark: You know, actually, I just checked with the doctor and you’re technically crazy.
Theresa: That’s pretty good.
Mark: In a good way. It like benign superficial crazy, but it’s good.
Theresa: Well, speaking of Extreme Makeover, the four episodes that are coming up for the holidays, we’re pretty excited. I think everyone is pretty excided to see that.
Mark: To have you back in their living rooms.
Ty: I’m excited, and loud as ever, hopefully. No, I am too. I think it’s great, too, because it’s about the holidays and the one thing I think our show is really good at is it’s about family and I’ve heard from so many people that it is a show that they watch, every member of their family, and they really look forward to it, so I’m really excited too, that it’s airing again. Those guys are my family.
It’s interesting but, anyway, it’s just such an awesome thing and I’m busy trying to figure out ways to create something very similar to that because it’s really kind of a crazy thing, but it’s a T.V. show, because the positive things that happen with that go well beyond t.v. ratings. It’s like what you do to impact a community and showcase people who do amazing things and then see hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people come together to do something, for an hour, that benefits not only one family or an entire community. It’s great that it’s a t.v. show, but, more importantly, it has a bigger impact than that, and so I’m so glad we’re coming back on because you really want. To go across the country and see other projects that are started because we inspired people to volunteer, to get together, to team up, and do something in their community that really makes a difference for someone or for more than one person. I think, to know that we can sort of snowball that, to be the lead inspiration, really it’s a good thing to be part of. That’s all I can stay.
Theresa: And it really is so inspiring, too, because we were able to go to a handful of Extreme Makeover projects. It’s the story of this family you help, but it’s every single volunteer that steps foot onto that job site to help. Every single person has their own personal story that is just so amazing, why they decided to give up a week of work, and to come out, and to travel out as far as they came, to come and help somebody that they don’t know. It’s just so inspiring and I’m glad that it’s airing around the holidays because maybe it will help everybody help with soup kitchens and giving gifts for kids who are needy and the whole thing during the holidays.
Ty: That’s what really blew me away, when I would meet people who would come out and volunteer for three hours and then end up staying three days. You’re like, “Wow, you guys are still here?”. That’s when you know what you’re doing is really phenomenal, and the ones who have helped before come back. I don’t know if you guys met the painter when we were in Joplin. We met them up in the Northwest, it was like Washington state or something, and they’ve come to like six different builds. That’s what I’m up about. It’s sort of like unsung heros that never make it on camera but these guys are incredible because they volunteer their time, they don’t sleep for 3-4 days, and do incredible things to make sure somebody has something that really sort of turns a page in their life,. It’s not just a couple of people, it’s hundreds of people that really do factor in what you just said, which is put their family, their life, their jobs on hold and really focus on someone else for that week. What’s amazing is how giving changes them in a very positive way, as well.
Theresa: Well, I’m pretty excited because I’m sure that there is something next up your sleeve because I don’t think that America can look at you and not think about trying to give back and to help somebody. I mean, there’s just such a connection between you and helping people that this inspires so many people.
Ty: Whenever I start doing this, I’ll be sure to let you guys know and you guys do your best and then let me know. Our show is coming on, as you know, Monday after Dancing With The Stars, at 10:00 at night, the season finale of Dancing With The Stars. Then I think we’ll be on every week during the holidays after that.
Theresa: Perfect.
Ty: That will be fun.
Mark: Good catching up, Ty. Drive safely.
Theresa: We’ll say goodbye.
Ty: All right, bye guys.
Theresa: Bye now.
Mark: See ya.
