BRAD HORN/Nevada Appeal Steve Boettcher picks up "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" star Ty Pennington after the minister saw his new home in Stagecoach on Friday afternoon.
STAGECOACH - Steve Boettcher stepped out of the limousine parked near his new home and pulled host Ty Pennington off the ground with a bear hug.
Thousands of friends, volunteers and fans of the ABC show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" chanted and waved signs Friday telling the television crew to "Move that bus!" and let the youth ministry leader and his family see the house.
A driver pulled the tour bus away and Boettcher, his wife, Mary, their daughter, Stephanie, and their 18-month-old grandson, Joshua, looked at their new 2,700-square-foot home. Behind it was also a new recreation center for the Boettchers' Soul'd Out Ministries.
The family had just gotten back to Stagecoach from a Hawaiian vacation the show sent them on while crews and 3,000 volunteers worked to replace both a 700-square-foot mobile home and a garage the family used as a recreation center for the ministry.
Steve's biker friends had a special section to watch him as the bus moved away. The Iron Nation motorcycle club waved a flag with its symbol, a skull wearing an American flag bandanna in front of a cross.
"He does anything he can for anyone that needs help," said Debbie Goin, a biker friend who also helped clean and move furniture into the three-bedroom house. "He's always there if someone needs something. He's always there."
Friends said he supports as many motorcycle events as he can. Clubs there cheering the family that afternoon ranged from the Hells Angels to Soldiers for Jesus.
"This guy's done so much for the community and the kids around here ... for him not having that much, he shows up to every one of our rides," said Wes "Shovelhead" Little of Iron Nation.
Boettcher has even taken the time to marry four couples in the club, he said.
"I think he's lived his life hard and gives everything he has," said T.J. O'Neal, also of Iron Nation. "They (Steve and Mary) take 25 to 40 kids a week here on their own money."
Most of the people there, however, had never met the family. They rode Lyon County school buses from the Stagecoach fire station to help the crew, see Ty Pennington or both.
Linda Scott, of Carson City, said she was there to support the family and its charity work. Many residents need to see that there's a lot of people who need help and have less than they do, she said.
On the bus ride to the new house on 8755 Cimarron Trail, her granddaughter, Morgan Nuckolls, worked on a sign she said would say how much she loved Ty Pennington.
"I love Ty and I think he's hot," the Carson High School senior said.
Ken Grezel, also from Carson City, said he forgot his gloves but went to the show taping to clean up or help however he could.
He said he wondered how the people living next to the Boettchers would react, though.
"It will always be like your neighbor tore down his house," he said, "and built the Taj Mahal."
• Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.