Extreme Home Makeover Builds Home For Hawaii Couple Earning Over $225,000 Annually

If you plan on watching the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's fifth-season premiere in Hawaii along with 17 million other television viewers, you may see the show in a different light after reading about the controversy surrounding this event. (The premiere of the Extreme Home Makeover show in Hawaii airs on Sunday, September 30 on ABC.)

I had blogged earlier about Momi Akana and her non-profit organization Keiki O Ka Aina which she founded a decade ago to help single mothers raise their children, while being a single mother herself. Momi Akana has since assisted thousands of people in Hawaii with building stronger families through family education and activities. There is no doubt that she is a deserving person who has worked selfless long hours for years, but now that she is doing extremely well financially and could afford to build her own house, is it right for her to accept a free house when there are many other families who do lots of good for the community but cannot afford to build a home for themselves?

“Extreme Makeover” home built on land purchased with state grant to a nonprofit agency

Akana founded Keiki O Ka 'Aina Family Preschool Inc. in 1996 and serves as its executive director, having received $97,018 in salary and an additional $5,931 in benefit and expenses during the fiscal year ending in September 2005, according to the organization's most recent tax filing, The Honolulu Advertiser reported Monday. In addition, Akana -- whose husband Ben Akana is also believed to earn an additional low six-figure salary due to his senior vice president position a local bank -- also reportedly received $22,000 in annual rent from Keiki O Ka 'Aina for the use of the top floor of her old home.
Ian Lind

I would encourage you to read Mr. Lind's very insightful and informative post and the comments it received.

However despite the fact that the family appears to have an annual household income of over $200,000, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition presented the local public with a very different picture when it arrived in Hawaii to build a new 3,500 square-foot home for the Akanas and their four children as well as a 4,500 square-foot community center for Keiki O Ka 'Aina.

"Momi and her three children attempted to make their own improvements to their home, they never had the money or the expertise to complete anything properly, so the house is a series of unfinished construction projects," the show stated in a June 6 news release intended to publicize the show's activities, according to The Advertiser. "As a nonprofit, there is no money to fix the damage done to Momi's home or to fix the structures that now house Keiki O Ka 'Aina."

But although a justification of the family's "neediness" certainly seemed to one of the news release's primary goals, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's production company, the non-profit organization, and the local home builder that oversaw the project disagree the idea that need determined the the Akanas' selection.

"This show is based on the decade of service that Momi has done for our community," Keiki O Ka 'Aina spokeswoman Kanoe Naone told The Advertiser about the project. "I'm positive that this show is not based on need."
RealityTVWorld.com

Last Sunday (September 23, 2007) the Honolulu Advertiser published an article titled: Hawaii 'Makeover' home under legal cloud.

Earlier this summer, the attorney general's tax division began asking questions about the lease arrangement between Akana and the nonprofit Keiki O Ka 'Aina Preschool Inc., which owns the land beneath Akana's new home. Keiki O Ka 'Aina spokeswoman Kanoe Naone said the organization provided the information sought by the state and that Akana, who is Keiki O Ka 'Aina's executive director, met with the attorney general's office to answer any questions. "We provided them with the (materials) ... they were seeking to their satisfaction," Naone said. Sources familiar with the situation, however, say the attorney general's inquiries are still pending.

You can read the complete article from the Honolulu Advertiser now for free, after 1-2 months? the link will go to an error page. If you want to read it later, you will have to request it and pay for it. (That is why I was not able to link the previous Honolulu Advertiser articles mentioned in the above quotes.) Hawaii 'Makeover' home under legal cloud.

On the popular site Topix under the entertainment category there are over 100 comments re: the Honolulu Advertiser's Hawaii 'Makeover' home under legal cloud article. There are many strong opinions from people who agree and disagree on the choice of Momi Akana being selected to receive a new house from the Extreme Home Makeover Show.

Please share your thoughts on the situation via a comment.

Comments

[kailani]

My BIL was just telling me last night about how much the husband makes. BIL works at the same bank. I was shocked that he made so much yet they didn't fix their home up to make it safer.

[HawaiiVacationGifts]

I agree. Maybe they never meant to continue living there but planned on selling it to move into something better.