BUENA PARK, Calif. — Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, along with
Church Interiors Audio and Video Inc. of High Point, NC, recently helped bring back a New Orleans-area church from the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina by donating a selection of professional sound reinforcement equipment and accessories as part of ABC-TV's
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
 Joe Lopez, Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. (center) holds a training session on the Yamaha M7CL with First Emanuel's A/V staff. |
According to Dan Wood, president of Church Interiors Audio and Video Inc., the recently-minted division of the 25-year-old church furnishings and renovation company (www.churchinteriors.com) was selected from a pool of applicants as subcontractors, donating time and materials for the church's audio systems, with gear supplied by Yamaha, Shure, H.S.A. and Rapco.
Thanks to the show and the efforts of contractors, subcontractors, and more than 300 volunteers, the 120-year-old First Emanuel Baptist Church now has new flooring, a new church bell, a new sanctuary sound system and other repairs.
The primetime inspirational makeover show gives a deserving family with a compelling story a complete home renovation in a one-week period of time. The New Orleans segment, scheduled to air on April 6 at 8 pm (EST), is part of a four-part special,
Extreme Makeover: Home EditionAfter the Storm, which follows the show's design team and special guests as they visit four of the Gulf Coast states hardest hit by last year's hurricane seasonLouisiana, Texas, Florida and Mississippi.
Although First Emanuel's brick exterior and stained glass windows survived the hurricane, high winds severely damaged roofs, causing water to seep into the chapel, gym and sanctuary, ruining ceilings, floors and furnishings. DonahueFavret Contractors Inc. of Mandeville, LA partnered with
Extreme Makeover; Home Edtion to renovate First Emanuel as general contractor, while subcontractors were chosen from requests and by referrals.
Wood traveled to New Orleans on February 18 with fellow Church Interiors employee Todd Lineberry for what became a "4-day installation marathon." Upon arrival, he and Lineberry met with local Church Interiors Audio & Video representative Rick Freeman and toured the site, made necessary adjustments, and coordinated with show production and other trades for access
to scaffolding and conduit. The team was assisted by New Orleans-based Church Interiors employees Chuck Wicker and Chris Frazier, along with volunteers from their partner manufacturers.
 Before: Renovations underway at First Emanuel. |
So far, around 300 of the 1,200 members of First Emanuel have returned to New Orleans since Katrina, while an additional 200 currently live in Baton Rouge, where Rev. Charles Southall III has been leading Sunday services for displaced worshippers.
"This was not merely great exposure for a relatively new company or just a 'good deed,'" says Wood. "These improvements will give the church a stronger base for its worship community, along with its many neighborhood outreach programs in New Orleans." First Emanuel operates a soup kitchen for the homeless, a daycare center for infants and toddlers, and gymnasium for young people.
"Obviously, prime time network television is a great vehicle to expose products to potential customers," says Dan Craik, product manager for Yamaha Commercial Audio, who, along with district manager Chris Taylor, worked with Wood to help provide the First Emanuel system. "But this was different from the usual installation in that the goal was not to sell product, but to provide a quality system to a deserving group of people." Yamaha is providing special training with the First Emanuel staff on the new gear.
Now in its third season, the show’s team leader is Ty Pennington (best known as the master carpenter from TLC's hit "Trading Spaces"). Pennington is joined by design team that includes Paul DiMeo, Michael Moloney and Preston Sharp.
After: The renovated interior. |
For more information, write Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems Inc., P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011; e-mail
infostation@yamaha.com; or
www.yamahaca.com.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is produced by Endemol USA, a division of Endemol Holding. David Goldberg is the president of Endemol USA. The series is executive-produced by Tom Forman. The show airs Sundays (8:00 p.m.-9:00p.m. ET), on the ABC Television Network.
About Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc.
Yamaha Commercial Audio offers a complete line of professional audio products for the commercial recording, production, broadcast, project studio, live sound, and sound reinforcement markets.
