Beach family gets settled into 'Extreme' home

KEMAH — The impact of a new home on the Melissa and Larry Beach family of Kemah has been extreme.

College scholarships await the dozen children; the family is mortgage-free, utility-bill free and newly equipped to provide for their next special-needs adoption — 6-month-old Eli.

Four more children, amputee survivors of Haiti’s earthquake, also are planned additions.

Mrs. Beach has received hundreds of e-mails, including one from a woman asking if the family would adopt her baby with Down syndrome whom she could no longer support.

“The doors have been opened for us,” Beach said, speaking by phone from the 6,340-square-foot home in Kemah built through ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” television show.

“We’re trying to figure out how do we do this now. But it will all work.”

Dramatic changes have taken place since the Beach family moved into the house in January, with four biological children and nine adopted children, many with special needs.

Jeremiah, 2, has taken tentative steps, with assistance. Mercy, their 22-month-old foster daughter with severe disabilities, died after suffering a seizure two months after the family moved in.

But during those last two months, Mercy thrived in a customized nursery, surrounded by donated specialized equipment.

The airing of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” show April 4 was dedicated to the toddler.

The customized house and specialized equipment made a huge impact on the two toddlers.

“It changed the lives of Jeremiah and Mercy,” Beach said. “It was great for everyone else to have a little bit more space, but it especially helped our little ones. We’ve actually seen Jeremiah take steps, with help.”

Before the new home was built, 11 children (two of the oldest live away from home — one in the U.S. Marines and another in college) were portioned out space in a travel trailer.

The brick home that had housed the family was gutted because of flood damage after Hurricane Ike in 2008. There was no insurance money to rebuild the home. And mold made it unlivable.

The Beaches had been living in two Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers, but that government program expired, and they moved into a single travel trailer, donated by a friend, until they could scratch out a way to rebuild their home.

The town of Kemah held fundraisers to help them, and more than 100 requests were sent to ABC, nominating the family for an “Extreme Makeover.”

The cast and crew of the popular show arrived in January, along with thousands of volunteers, constructing a two-story home in the space of a week. But that was just part of the story, Mrs. Beach said.

“People are still offering things,” she said. “I don’t know if we can ever thank everybody personally. There are stories that people are finally telling us that are amazing — who worked on this and why they did it,” Beach said.

The family plans to continue adopting and sheltering children with special needs, including 6-month-old Eli, disabled by strokes.

“We have everything we need to get them growing again and learning,” Beach told the ABC crew.

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Details To Note

"For information on the many sponsors of the building project, check the Web site, http://blushieldsextreme.com, and http://abc.go.com/shows/extreme-makeover-home-edition.

"Donations can be sent to Noah’s Landing, the nonprofit foundation begun by the Beach family in 2001 to help children with special needs, 1013 Delesandri, Kemah, Texas 77565.

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Donations To Beach Family

Here’s a rough draft list of some of the donations:

"First Choice Power: Two years of power — up to a certain limit;

"CVS Pharmacy: $150,000 in equipment for special-needs children, including switch toys, ball pit, Leckey stander frame allowing a child to work at a desk while standing, and another frame allowing the child to move his or her feet while held securely upright;

"Space Center Rotary Club and Sagemont Church: Cash donations to pay off the remaining mortgage on the old Beach home, which was demolished to make way for the new home — which was given to the family mortgage-free;

"Comcast Cable: One year of cable service;

"YMCA: One-year family membership;

"Tamara Vogt, owner of Mario’s Flying Pizza in Seabrook and Webster: Bottled water for the construction project workers, food for the gathering after Mercy’s funeral and for the viewing of the television episode. She also posted a Facebook announcement offering to match any gift cards for the family brought to the pizza restaurant on a certain day. Close to $5,000 was raised.

"College of the Mainland: Full scholarships for all the children, covering school, books, out-of-district fees and supplies;

"Patrick Henderson and his grandfather, Blu Shields, lead builders on the project, some $90,000 of their own money put into the home. Henderson helped coordinate many other donations.