The Third Ward

Last Wednesday, I was assigned a story concerning the family who recently won Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The Johnsons live in the Third Ward, and their house had been severely damaged by Hurricane Ike to the point where floorboards were rotting and accumulating holes. The size of the house, too, was a problem -- the Johnson family is made up of five homeschooled girls and their parents, too large a family for a house the size of your average living room. The family was picked partially because of their contributions to the community. The two adults, Elaine and Eric counsel couples and are planning to release their book next year. They're also major supporters of Houston's Green Initiative.

A fellow intern and I drove to the Third Ward to visit their new house and interview them about the process. As soon as we drove under the freeway and into the neighborhood, the change in atmosphere was incredibly clear. The houses started sloping, becoming smaller and smaller-- all chipped paint and chicken wire fences, and then no paint at all and chickens. The streets, too, were in a condition less than pristine. The edges of the road dwindled into roadside trenches. Holes pockmarked the surface. My mother and I drove through the neighborhood, craning our necks to look out the window, trying to find the proper house.

And then, from two blocks away, we saw it. Rising above bungalows in shambles with falling-apart roofs rose a house that looked more like it belonged in the McMansion section of Bellaire than among the other places. All stucco and wood and elegant wrought-iron fencing, it stuck out like a sore thumb when in front of the house across the street, a woman in threadbare clothes was shooing chickens into the dirt-and-dry-grass yard.

The interview went well -- the family proudly showed us their elegant home, documenting the entire thing on videocameras they'd just received and then playing us music on a brand new shiny red grand piano. There's no question they were a deserving family. Elaine and Eric Johnson were ready to volunteer information about everything they were doing for the community, sharing enthusiastically their family motto "live right, love all, give back." The five girls were all incredibly poised and sweet, answering questions with a "Yes ma'am" and complete, carefully articulated sentences. "We want to turn this into an Extreme Community Makeover," Elaine Johnson told us. As an article by Lisa Carey regarding the family and Home Makeover episode stated, here was Extreme Makeover helping out "another deserving, community minded family."

At the same time, though, it was hard to see. Who are we -- who is anyone-- to choose who's deserving and who's not? With run-down houses and rusty mechanical remains in lots next door, why does this family get a vast, imposing house when, for the same money, multiple smaller but equally functional and sturdy houses could be built? The family proudly said that their neighbors were happy for them and came to celebrate in their new abode, but it must have hurt at least a little to compare. Of course I'm happy for this family -- there's no doubt about that. They shouldn't have to live with a crumbling house. Then again, should anyone? Extreme Makeover crosses the country making examples of proud, large, photogenic, admittedly deserving and compassionate families and carefully avoiding camera shots of the houses next door.

I was pleased to meet the Johnsons and very happy for them that they finally would have such a wonderful place to live. They're an asset to our community, for sure.

But should this really be the reward for being "community-minded"...

When this is next door?

Sara