A Navajo family from Arizona was surprised last week by work crews from the ABC show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
Garrett Yazzie, a high school student, and his family live in Pinon, on the Navajo Nation. Their trailer lacks running water and insulation and suffers from a wide range of problems.
The situation prompted Garrett, at age 13, to build a solar heater for the house. He wanted to create a safe power source for his sister, Gwendolyn , who suffers from severe asthma and epilepsy.
The invention earned Garrett, who is now in high school, national accolades. And it led to his family's selection for the 'Makeover' show, which sent crews to the reservation last Tuesday to build a new home for the Yazzies.
The project will take a week, while the Yazzies are on vacation. The family will return home this week and they will appear on the program later this fall.
"Extreme Makeover" previously built a home for the family of Lori Piestewa, the Hopi woman killed in Iraq. The family lived on the Navajo Nation but their new home is in Flagstaff, Arizona.
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Big reward for precocious teen
(AP 4/16)
$rl Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - http://abc.go.com/primetime/xtremehome
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