Drury, Camp Barnabas pitch in at ‘Extreme Makeover’ project

Twenty-five Drury students left Thursday for the project and will return Sunday. With the help of a 70-member crew from Rogers, Ark.-based RealSteel, the students will design and build a barn/shelter for the Collins family, which raises 4-H animals.

The students previously helped with an “Extreme Makeover” build at Camp Barnabas in 2005. The camp’s staff also is pitching in with the latest project – they’re headed to Murfreesboro today.

“We have received many blessings since ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ came to Camp Barnabas, and this is such a unique, nearby opportunity for us to show our thanks and to help a very deserving family,” camp co-founder Cyndy Teas said in a news release. The camp is a nondenominational Christian summer camp for children with special needs.

The Murfreesboro project will create a new home for Dennis and Kim Collins. The couple adopted the five children of Kim Collins’ cousin, who died in a car accident. Collins’ teenage son also is a brain cancer survivor whose recovery left him hearing and mentally impaired.

The Collins family will return to its new home on Monday.