<p>The new home in Lake Arrowhead was to replace the one destroyed by fire a few years ago. But costly medical bills from a car accident kept Faith Tipton-Smith's family from finishing it.</p><p>But then a TV show _ ABC-TV's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" stepped in. Up to 5,000 volunteers helped make her family's dream come true. The episode is expected to air in March.</p><p>"People came who I didn't know, so it just goes to show how much love is in the community," she said. "It's a new start for me and my girls. It's going to be a good 2007."</p><p>Her family's home was destroyed in a 2005 fire. Three months after construction began on their new home, her 16-year-old son, Ransom, and David Tipton of Cartersville, died of injuries suffered in a car accident. Ransom's sister, Missy, also was injured.</p><p>Woodstock-based Oakwood Homes LLC and its building partners and RBC Centura Bank volunteered services, materials and money to complete the house. The bank and its sister companies donated $25,000 and led a fund-raising campaign to pay off the family's nearly $145,000 mortgage.</p><p>"A community came out to really help Faith and her children," said Tony Perry, CEO of Oakwood Homes. "It was just a genuinely unique experience to see everybody embrace what we were doing."</p><p>In addition, a Ransom Tipton Memorial Scholarship Fund has been created at Reinhardt College. The first recipients will be Tipton-Smith's daughters and Elaine Yurewich of Waleska, whose late son, Alex, also died in the car accident, and her daughter, Corinne.</p><p>"Not only will it benefit your two families, but it's our desire at Reinhardt for this to be a fund that's available to all families who have had their lives disrupted by tragedy," said J. Thomas Isherwood, the president of the college.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cd9b3c)</p>
