Fresno City College speaker’s forum presented Mary Ann Riojas to talk about her experience during and after the Extreme Home Makeover show that remodeled her whole entire house. On January 8th 2009 the Riojas family heard Ty Pennington outside there house calling them to come out and after that moment there lives change drastically in a better, positive way.

“Our lives have truly changed since January 8th” Mary Ann Riojas said about the whole process since her house was remodeled. “The show has blessed my family.”

Mary Ann Riojas received a call from Valley Children’s Hospital Easter Seals non-profit organization back in August of 2008 to ask her if she would like to be nominated for the chance to be one of the luckiest families to be part of the Extreme Home Makeover show. At that time Riojas did not know what exactly the show was about since she had never before watched it. The next Sunday she watched an episode of the show and was shocked after seeing what the show was really about.

The whole time from August to January the entire Riojas Family was anxious to find out if they had be chosen since there were 4 other families in Fresno that had also been nominated. There were many rules from the show that the family had to follow. They weren’t allowed to talk about the topic to anyone at all they had to keep it a secret until the family was reveled.

The family was excited after finding out they had been chosen. They were sent to a Colorado Ski Resort where they spend an awesome time skiing and enjoying the beautiful views. The day they came back to Fresno the family was taken to a hotel and was not allowed to watch TV, read the newspaper or do any calls to anyone. The show wanted everything to be a true real surprise for the whole entire Riojas Family.

The show didn’t just change the Riojas Family’s life it also helped the Fresno community in many ways. The Easters Seal non-profit organization donated fifty thousand dollars for wheelchairs to the Valley Children’s hospital. Many people that came during the building of the house brought many cans of food and those were all donated to the food bank. The Fresno community was very supportive and many volunteered to help out the Riojas Family. The show it self was very impress from all the people that came out to support and tried to help out in any way they could.

Live after Extreme Home Makeover for Mary Ann Riojas is better than ever. She now has a house were she can move around and be safe “There’s things I can do now for the first time” she said about living in her new remodeled house. Even though Riojas has many disabilities none of them have ever stop her from doing what she always wanted to do. She is a very inspirational person because she has shown everyone that everything is possible no matter your physical situation. She has proven to everyone that determination takes you places. Riojas will be attending FCC pretty soon to transfer to Fresno State to obtain her bachelors degree in Public Communications.