The Launch

While Buffalo’s West Side recently went through a huge makeover, conincidentally so did THRiVE! Magazine. Our new designer, Marinette Kozlow, along with the other members of THRiVE!’s team have worked together to bring you a magazine with a new look and feel just in time to cover the transformations in Buffalo, initiated by ABC’s Extreme Makeover:  Home Edition. In just seven days, Buffalo saw 50 home improvement projects completed, 85 tons of food donated to feed the city’s hungry, and so much more. The sound of Ty Pennington’s megaphone launched the people of WNY into action, and THRiVE! was there to capture it all.

Having secured exclusive one-on-one interviews with each member of the design team, the executive producer of the show, and local contributing leaders, THRiVE! devotes a large portion of this issue to the Makeover with more to come in the next. To view THRiVE!’s extensive photo coverage of the Makeover, become a fan of THRiVE! Magazine on Facebook or visit our website at www.thrivebuffalo.org.

Another exciting development at THRiVE! is the official launch of THRiVE! Media Group, a division of our company that offers creative, quality services in print and online design, advertising, marketing, video, and photography. When the ABC production coordinator for Extreme Makeover asked if THRiVE! could find them a helicopter, we said, “Sure we can.” When ABC told THRiVE! they needed aerial footage for the show, we said, “We can do that.” And so, ironically, THRiVE! Media Group was launched in a helicopter. And now, we are ready to serve you like we did ABC.

I’d like to send out a special thanks to Extreme Makeover:  Home Edition for providing the people of WNY the opportunity to channel their hearts of service and generosity. Momentum on such a scale would have been very difficult to generate without their help. I would also like to specially thank my business partner and spouse, Julianna, who worked harder on this edition than any other I can remember.

Comments

[Heidi L. Brown]

When ABC Extreme Makeover came to Buffalo; it wasn't like we thought we would get a bridge, or that Bass Pro would tear up and commercialize the waterfront; for the better- or not, or do it, or not..see also: downtown casinos. But some of us were under the impression that our neighborhoods would get a kick start and a helping hand for a few; and a completed product would only be in our own hands, long after the cameras leave; a constant continuation of not just a shiny newer exterior but the real beginning of a healing process; one block at a time; one heart and family at a time. Who is responsible? When this winter snow clears; will the gazebo type structure at the garden on Massachusetts Avenue still be a better symbol of the future? Where a makeshift memorial once was built by friends and family in front of the old house; a "shooting gallery" and a reminder of the violence and how many lives crime touches throughout Buffalo; there now just lingers the impression that something bigger and better was here and could be here still; but maintained? Is that possible? Does new sidewalk clear away spilled blood?Was there a proper dedication; something concrete to keep the construction of hope and architecture on a continuing climb vs. the rate of crime? Something that says, yeah, ABC was here, But Gods still watching, so monitor your behavior and actually BE a good neighbor and pray that even in the worst of neighborhoods; we will still be standing even if this so called garden isn't-because its doors wont close, but they may fall down; our homes vandalized, and disappointments may settle back into our hearts. But it's Buffalo. A joke to mostly everyone you talk to. So house by house and corner by corner, I guess we just have to do one thing; answer to ourselves;because if anything truly changes; it has to come from within us, and not from a temporary source; not money; and not television.