The “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” experience in Freeborn County will not only change the lives of one local family, but also those of the entire community, said the show’s executive producer Conrad Ricketts during a Tuesday pep rally.

And when it’s done, hopefully the change will just be the beginning for the area, he said. Introducing the process of the home makeover to a couple hundred area residents at Crossroads Church just north of Albert Lea, Ricketts said the crowd Tuesday may be one of the largest turnouts he’s seen.

“We cannot do this without the community coming together,” he said.

Ricketts explained that between 3,000 and 5,000 applications come in everyday for the show, but very few are actually chosen for the makeover.

In April of 2001, he said, the ABC Network came to him talking about all the house remodeling shows that had been coming on and asked him if he could come up with an idea for a show, he said. He came up with the idea of seven designers coming together over seven days to remodel a house. And it worked.

In actuality, he said, the houses are actually built in 106 hours — or 4 1/2 days — unlike the four-month average it would normally take. In this case, Host Ty Pennington and his design team will knock on the door of a selected family on Sept. 30. From there, they will remove the belongs in the home and set up a TV shooting crew. Then on Oct. 2, the demolition begins and the “Extreme Makeover” crew will work with local contractors and volunteers to construct the family a new home.

People will be coming from across the state to help, he said.

And what everyone doesn’t realize coming into this, he said, is that they will be changed by the time they leave.

Though he can’t talk about the selected local family who will receive the home makeover, he said, he knows that family is praying for the show to come to them.

He added, “This family’s an incredible family that gives back.”

Ricketts talked of the pace that the house is built and showed clips of some of the former houses that the show has constructed.

During the process different trades will come together to work and everyone will be proud when the house is completed.

When building, he said, the No. 1 aspect will be safety, and he encouraged everyone participating to watch out for each other. The No. 2 aspect will be quality.

“This is not sticky tape that holds up walls,” Ricketts joked.

It will be like no other job site around, with roads shut down for a week and hundreds of semi trucks coming into deliver materials, he said.

“One billion people will see your community, this state and this nation,” Ricketts said, explaining that the show goes out to 69 countries around the world.

When volunteers go in for their scheduled time, they will first go to a check-in area and then sign a liability release and a media release. Businesses donating to the cause will sign a tradeout agreement so their name will be listed on the “Extreme Makeover” Web site.

Volunteers will be held at the check-in point until their scheduled time. Skilled volunteers are asked to bring the tools they use everyday.

Ricketts introduced the project managers, location managers and design producers for the project.

He explained that this season’s show will feature heroes. Though sometimes people think of a hero as a man who walks into a burning building, there’s also everyday heroes, too, like nurses, teachers and doctors.

Ricketts encouraged everyone who’s going to help to be there at the house when the family comes home, so they can look into the family’s eyes and the family can look into their eyes.

Al Larson, owner of Larson Contracting, who was asked to build the house, said it has already been amazing for him to watch the response from the community for this project.

Larson said he’s grateful to be a part of it. It is a way to give back to the community.

He said that 850 unskilled volunteers signed up, when only 400 were needed. The response for skilled labor has been just as high.

“It’s amazing how much people give,” Larson said.

Lola Evans, who attended the pep rally, said she was excited to be at the pep rally.

“It was just inspiring how they bring the community and the faith together,” Evans said.

“It brings tears to me everytime I see it — helping a family in need,” Kim Flaa added. “It’s cool that it’s right here.”