347 people in wheelchairs formed the Hope Inc. logo and broke a world record!
If “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” had any worries about getting enough volunteers to build a house in 106 hours or breaking a world record with wheelchairs, they clearly didn’t know who they were dealing with.
Friday afternoon temperatures tapped out in the 80s and the beating sunshine searched for skin without sunscreen. As people drove into the Miracle Field parking lot in south Moorhead, their reactions were likely the same.
“Wow.”
The line stretched much longer than a regular city block and there were people in every direction eyes could see.
This was big. Much bigger than anyone expected, but remember, we’re dealing with a special breed of mid-Westerners here, the roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-it-done type of people.
“I’m blown away by this community but I don’t know why – Fargo-Moorhead is a flood fighting community,” said Brenda Schmid, president of Hope Inc.
People signed in and waited with impressive patience just to be involved and be part of the world record attempt for number of people sitting in wheelchairs, making a recognizable logo and maintaining that logo for 10 minutes.
“I’ve never seen so many people in wheelchairs and there are so many nice people here – that’s Fargo-Moorhead for you,” said Grace Bennefeld of Moorhead. Bennefeld said it was something she would never forget.
“Do you think we’ll break the record?” she was asked.
“Oh yes!” she said.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” said Diane Thiel, of Moorhead.
Thiel said being at the event was not as much about the record as it is about the support for Hope Inc. Thiel is a first grade teacher and has had many students involved in Hope Inc.
After shooting scenes for “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” participants formed the Hope logo – 347 people in the logo, which broke the previous record of 250.
It’s another good day for Fargo-Moorhead.
All of the volunteers coming together for the common good throughout the week brought up many comments and comparisons about the Fargo-Moorhead flood fights.
Most weren’t doing it to save their own houses, they were doing it to help others and to be part of something big.
It’s just something we do around here. It’s a similar scene of reaching out at the “Extreme” build site, where most of the workers don’t know the Grommesh family.
“Really, it comes down to loving your neighbor as yourself,” says Chuck McWethy, owner of Mac’s hardware, who has been back and forth to the site all week dropping off donated materials that crews have requested.
Randy Anderson of Mac’s flashed back to 17 truck dumping sand at the Fargodome during the flood. No one said, “Well, this isn’t gonna happen,” and it’s the same this with building a house in 106 hours and moving another one. People just stepped up and took care of the challenge, leaving the doubts in the dust.
The same infectious spirit that people caught during the flood fights, the community caught for this week’s project work. They get some rest and they wake up fresh and go 400 miles per hour. Around here, people don’t stop a project until it’s finished.
“It’s the upper-Midwest work ethic, you’ve got to have a nature to overcome and just say ‘I’m gonna do this,’” Anderson says.
We’ve done it many times, with the floods, with the “Extreme” build and oh, yeah, we broke a world record this week too.