EMHE: It's Time to Meet the Family

It's been several weeks since we found out Extreme Makeover: Home Edition would be filming an episode in 417-land. Since then it's been a flurry of media and vendor activity, but one question remained: Who is the family that we're all rushing around to help? Well, now we know.

Good morning Hampton family! The family of eight lives in a one-room, one-bath farmhouse near Ash Grove. The story is as dramatic as you'd expect from Extreme Makeover. A family of four opens its home to four neices and nephews rather than let them be sent to foster care. Today the Hamptons will be sent to Disney World while the show's crew (and seemingly half of 417-land), builds them a new home.

The full story, plus more about the individual family members, follows in the full ABC press release.

[Begin full press release]

On July 14, 2009,“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” travels to Ash Grove, Missouri, to tell the eight members of the Hampton family – all living in a cramped one-bedroom, one-bath farmhouse – that they’ll have a new home in seven days. The original family of four doubled in size not long ago after a fateful phone call from a social services agency. Chris and Niki Hampton were told they had just one hour to decide if they would take in their four nieces and nephews or let them go to foster care.

Chris and Niki didn’t hesitate to open their hearts and home to young Gage, Kira, Lexi and Jacob, who now range in age from two to eight years old. Squeezing out the space for them, together with eleven-year-old son Dakota and eight-year-old daughter Hannah, has been the real challenge. Currently, the three boys share one set of bunk beds in the dining room, and the three girls share another set of bunks in what used to be a utility closet. Since the cottage has no closets, plastic storage bins are stacked floor-to-ceiling in every room. Dinner is served assembly line-style, and everyone sits on the floor except for the youngest children in booster seats.

What the family lacks in comfort and space, they more than make up for with love. The children are incredibly close –literally and figuratively – and Chris and Niki look forward to the day when they move beyond full legal custody of their nieces and nephews to become their -adoptive parents.

Chris, a land surveyor, basketball and football coach, and president of the Missouri Family Rodeo Association (MFRA), and Niki, a saleswoman and MFRA secretary, also have rescued six horses that live on their five-acre farm along with three dogs. 

The Hampton family will go on vacation to Walt Disney World while the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” team, local builder Sam Clifton of Millstone Homes, workers and volunteers transform their home.

The design team for this episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” will feature team leader Ty Pennington and designers Michael and Paige, plus a special guest who will come later in the week.

The location address is: The Hampton Family 10043 West Farm Road #94, Ash Grove, MO 65604

Together with literally hundreds of volunteers, a team led by Nixa builder Sam Clifton will demolish the family’s old home and build a new one in just one week. All materials in the home are donated, and we are currently seeking donations to retire the family’s mortgage as well. Learn more at Millstoneextremedream.com.

[End full press release]

Matt Lemmon, web editor

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