UCA students will be featured on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on the ABC television network this Sunday, April 29 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. as they help renovate a home for a Murfreesboro, Ark. family. The show can be viewed in Central Arkansas on KATV Channel 7, in Northwest Arkansas on KHBS/KHOG-TV 40/29 and in Northeast Arkansas on KAIT Channel 8.
The UCA volunteers got involved when former UCA football player Ben Faires told UCA Head Football Coach Clint Conque that the show needed assistance with a project for an Arkansas family. Conque assembled a group of three coaches, 22 football players, two moderators for the cheerleading team, five Purple Haze group members and the UCA Bears mascot to travel to Murfreesboro, where they enlarged a house for the Collins family.
According to ABC, Kim and Dennis Collins recently took custody of five children left orphaned when Kim’s cousin was killed in a car accident. The Collins’ own son, Mitchell, survived a rare form of brain cancer when he was three years old, leaving him hearing and mentally impaired. Without the financial resources to enlarge their living space, they accepted the generosity of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” led by host Ty Pennington.
UCA President Lu Hardin is offering $144,000 worth of scholarships, covering full tuition and fees, to the six Collins children, if they choose to attend UCA.
