Club will clean up site after show

They may not be working side-by-side with Ty Pennington, selecting furniture with Paul DiMeo or painting rooms with Paige Hemmis and other stars of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

But Kent’s Interior Design Student Collaborative will be volunteering by cleaning up the work site of an Extreme Makeover remodel in Pittsburgh tomorrow.

Nearly 50 members of the student organization will be devoting six hours of their Saturday to reorganizing the Pittsburgh neighborhood and surrounding yards by disposing of excess building materials and waste left by the remodel.

“We won’t be there for the big reveal – we’re going afterwards,” said Julie Edwards, IDSC philanthropist and junior interior design major. “We’re not going to be doing the glamorous thing. We won’t be nailing or hammering with Ty Pennington, but we’re going to be there to help the family because that’s what’s really important to us.”

The reveal of the house will be completed today, though information regarding the family and the location of the home has not yet been released because of ABC guidelines.

Edwards said she heard that the popular TV program – now in its sixth season – would be visiting the Pittsburgh area. She contacted ABC to find volunteer opportunities for the student chapter.

According to ABC’s “Extreme Make Over: Home Edition” Web site, the program features “a race against time on a project that would ordinarily take at least four months to achieve, involving a team of designers, contractors and several hundred workers who all have just seven days to totally rebuild an entire house – every single room, plus the exterior and landscaping.”

Erin Shaw, junior interior design major, said she hopes IDSC’s example of charity inspires other students to get involved in volunteer work. Because of the demanding work load of interior design majors, maintaining high levels of involvement among the student chapters can be difficult. She said the group hopes to continue these efforts throughout this semester and in the future.

Yearly, the IDSC participates in the Walk to Cure Diabetes, sponsors a family in need for Thanksgiving dinner and sponsors the Beaux Arts Ball.

“It is about cleaning up the neighborhood. It is about removing any toxins or any left-over materials,” said Pamela Evans, associate dean of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. “Our program is about sustainability and it always has been. It’s not just about socially-responsible design; it’s about social responsibility on a bigger forefront.”

Contact College of Architecture and Environmental Design reporter Abbey Linville at [email protected].