Thursday, November 17, 2005
Downtown: Overwhelmingly positive
Post by BJP, Sandpoint Online staff
We wanted to find out what residents thought about the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition project going on in Sandpoint this week, so I took a walk around a couple of downtown blocks this morning doing "man on the street" interviews. My mission was to talk to 10 people. Not many people were on the streets this morning, so I ended up walking into several businesses to find people. The responses were overwhelmingly positive. Only one person expressed some misgivings. Here is a sampling of what they had to say:
Bruce, age 55, attorney
"I think it's been great for the community, a good experience and obviously beneficial for the two children involved."
Carol, age 60-plus, health care consultant
"I think it's wonderful, and it certainly shows Sandpoint's heart."
Cheryl, age 48, store owner
"I'm awfully proud of the town, because any time you can do something to help someone out, it's a good thing."
Dann, age 58, store owner
"I think it's wonderful, and it's ironic how similar this family's situation is to the family in the novel 'Housekeeping' by our own Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Marilynne Robinson."
Nancy, age 58, retired
"It's nice to have something like that happen in our small community; it's a phenomenal thing that they do for people."
Laura, age 37, sales associate
"I think what they're doing is wonderful, but when I read on the same page of the newspaper about families losing everything in fires, I wish they could spread the wealth more."
Klover, age 30, Realtor
"I think it's neat that they're tying in other ways of helping the family, such as the Kootenai School holding a Jump Rope-a-thon to raise funds for the American Heart Association."
Melanie, age 43, homemaker
"It's great to see the community come together, and the generosity makes me proud of Sandpoint."
Eric, 28, store owner
"It's awesome – a good group of people doing good things with their time."
John, age 58, retired
"They do such a wonderful job, and they really pulled the community together."
By the way, numerous store owners I talked to this morning have been approached by staff members from the show and have generously donated items for the home, everything from lamps to candles, and mattresses to artwork. One of the members of the design team, Eduardo Xol, was in a group of about eight people filming scenes from inside Vanderford's yesterday. Vanderford's donated office supplies for Eric Hebert's home office. One store owner said you can't resist the people they send to ask for donations.
We'll be doing some more "man in the street" interviews at other locations around town to see what residents think, so stay tuned.
We wanted to find out what residents thought about the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition project going on in Sandpoint this week, so I took a walk around a couple of downtown blocks this morning doing "man on the street" interviews. My mission was to talk to 10 people. Not many people were on the streets this morning, so I ended up walking into several businesses to find people. The responses were overwhelmingly positive. Only one person expressed some misgivings. Here is a sampling of what they had to say:
Bruce, age 55, attorney
"I think it's been great for the community, a good experience and obviously beneficial for the two children involved."
Carol, age 60-plus, health care consultant
"I think it's wonderful, and it certainly shows Sandpoint's heart."
Cheryl, age 48, store owner
"I'm awfully proud of the town, because any time you can do something to help someone out, it's a good thing."
Dann, age 58, store owner
"I think it's wonderful, and it's ironic how similar this family's situation is to the family in the novel 'Housekeeping' by our own Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Marilynne Robinson."
Nancy, age 58, retired
"It's nice to have something like that happen in our small community; it's a phenomenal thing that they do for people."
Laura, age 37, sales associate
"I think what they're doing is wonderful, but when I read on the same page of the newspaper about families losing everything in fires, I wish they could spread the wealth more."
Klover, age 30, Realtor
"I think it's neat that they're tying in other ways of helping the family, such as the Kootenai School holding a Jump Rope-a-thon to raise funds for the American Heart Association."
Melanie, age 43, homemaker
"It's great to see the community come together, and the generosity makes me proud of Sandpoint."
Eric, 28, store owner
"It's awesome – a good group of people doing good things with their time."
John, age 58, retired
"They do such a wonderful job, and they really pulled the community together."
By the way, numerous store owners I talked to this morning have been approached by staff members from the show and have generously donated items for the home, everything from lamps to candles, and mattresses to artwork. One of the members of the design team, Eduardo Xol, was in a group of about eight people filming scenes from inside Vanderford's yesterday. Vanderford's donated office supplies for Eric Hebert's home office. One store owner said you can't resist the people they send to ask for donations.
We'll be doing some more "man in the street" interviews at other locations around town to see what residents think, so stay tuned.
