David Stapleton led 6,000 people in the biggest single-week effort to revitalize Buffalo in recent history. Stapleton, President of David Homes, is a Buffalo native and father of three who was catapulted into the local spotlight when ABC selected his company as the builder for the November Extreme Home Makeover. After hearing the story of Delores Powell, Stapleton was galvanized into action. “We wanted to continue Delores Powell’s work to revitalize the West Side of Buffalo,” explained Stapleton. That he did, and now his goal is mobilizing the community to continue the momentum.

“I didn’t ask to be the leader; I wasn’t looking for the position. 6,000 people came out looking to be led, and the door opened for me,” said Stapleton, who took it upon himself to give more than the producers of ABC’s Extreme Makeover were asking. “I couldn’t in good conscience come into a neighborhood like this and ignore the thousands of other needs around us,” he added. Stapleton wasn’t satisfied with helping just one family so he contacted his long-time friend and marketing professional Kyle Kraus to help him get the community involved. Kraus was good friends with Josh Randle, who happened to work at Western New York Americorps, an organization dedicated to serving and bringing positive change to neighborhoods in Western New York. This is the largest local branch of Americorps in the nation, and they had ready access to hundreds of volunteers. It all snowballed from there. Donations, volunteers, building material, publicity, momentum; the excitement became contagious. Whether people were involved or not, they observed what was happening. Stapleton, David Homes, WNY Americorps and Kraus had less than a month to pull together the gargantuan project and only five days to actually build the home. And if that weren’t enough pressure already, the group also undertook projects for the whole neighborhood. Add in gardening, roofing, siding, painting and porch repair projects and you have an undertaking that is bigger than any one individual, company or organization, and even bigger than one Hollywood show. That is why ABturned the program into a two-hour special. The whole community celebrated on January 24th because this time Buffalo won; the kick wasn’t wide right and the call wasn’t “no goal.” This was Stapleton’s desire all along. “This is about Buffalo saving itself, to show on a national scale what we all know living in Buffalo. This is just a symbol of what we are all about.” Stapleton’s goal was for Buffalo to shine on a national stage, and that’s exactly what happened. The Powell home was the first green certified, emerald level home built on the show. Emerald level is the highest and most stringent level of certification a home can achieve when tested by environmentally friendly standards. The home was the first of its kind in New York State, and the first “green” deconstruction on the show as well. Rather than the typical explosive demolitions for which Extreme Makeover is known, Buffalo ReUse took down the home one piece at a time and literally reused much of the salvageable hardware. Stapleton capitalized on his clout as the donating home builder to brand Buffalo as the place to be, even in November. When the show asked him to talk about how cold it was in Buffalo, Stapleton refused to comment. When the show wanted to do its typical demolition of the Powell house and some of the surrounding, boarded-up homes, Stapleton said, “Let’s not act as if we have nothing better to do than blow up homes that no one wants. I wanted them to produce a show that this city is proud of.” Thus Stapleton wore short sleeves and shorts during the November build to show the world that Buffalo was enjoying one of the most beautiful weeks of the year. Stapleton’s passion for Buffalo was one of the driving forces that made him say “yes” to Extreme Makeover even though it meant that he open up his wallet and write the check to make the home build possible.While ABC is responsible for creating a show that wows its viewers, the home builder selected is tasked with building the brand new home for free. Stapleton is passionate about doing the right thing for people in need, so although he hadn’t done anything of this magnitude in the past, he knew it was a date with destiny to do something for the Powell family. His goal now is figuring out how to continue growing his business so he can continue giving back. This was the question Stapleton was ponderin when I met him at his office shortly after he had completed the week-long construction spree. He was hard at work meeting with stakeholders in the community to discuss what the community could learn from the makeover, something to sparkfurther efforts to revitalize Buffalo.

Organizations like PUSH Buffalo, a group that works for sustainable housing on the West Side, and Americorps are serving the community on the West Side of Buffalo daily. What the makeover did was bring energy and a renewed sense of purpose to what many of these organizations have been working at for years. The makeover shone a spotlight on the need and helped put the city back on the radar as a great opportunity for business and service. In fact, Stapleton made a public commitment to Mayor Byron Brown that he and his company, David Homes Construction, would continue to take an interest in downtown Buffalo. Stapleton will put that commitment into action when Extreme Makeover: Home Edition returns to Buffalo this summer for yet another home makeover. David Homes also plans on continuing its close partnership with Canisius College, which made a big splash at the makeover when it donated full college scholarships to the entire Powell family. As a suburban subdivision home builder, Stapleton had stayed out of the downtown housing market in the past because of the spate of residents looking for suburban living. Now, however,Stapleton sees potential for new homes in the city of Buffalo, where there are currently 10,000-20,000 vacant properties. “What happens to the families that may not want to live in a loft or an apartment downtown but may be in the market for a home build in the city?” said Stapelton. He is now energetically exploring home building in Buffalo in what he calls the “New Urbanist Style,” of which the Powell’s new home is an example. The opportunity to simultaneously expand his business and help revitalize his beloved Buffalo is irresistible to Stapleton, who built his business from the ground up and repeatedly thanks his loyal customers for the opportunity to give back in this way. He knows that the city is the core of our community, and if the city is doing well then the whole region benefits. The West Side revitalization has indeed begun, but there is so much more work yet to do. Now that the dust from the makeover has settled,it is time to take stock of what we have learned and apply that wisdom to the ongoing rejuvenation of the city. The chief lesson is that Buffalo is not dying! On the contrary, it is coming roaring back to life. No other city in the seven-year history of Extreme Makeover had nearly as robust a turnout as did Buffalo. This is yet another sign of the turnaround that is happening in the region.What’s more, it is vitally important to keep alive the spirit of service within each one of us. Never underestimate the goodness inside of people; men and women crave to be part of something worthwhile. Now that all the cameras are gone—and even when they return this summer—what is left are the acts of intentional kindness that we have the opportunity to perform on a daily basis, acts that no television producer may ever see but which make all the difference in the world to someone in need. So go ahead and pay it forward, Buffalo. Let’s keep the momentum going.