"Good Morning America" visit leads to assistance for Arcade & Attica Railroad
"Extreme Makeover Home Edition" assists with wheelchair accessibility
NIAGARA FALLS — Twelve-year- old Jon Thomas Robertson managed to hold back tears and smile broadly Tuesday, when his favorite television star surprised him on “Good Morning America” with the announcement that “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” would help him make the Arcade & Attica Railroad accessible to wheelchairs.
“Extreme Makeover” host Ty Pennington astonished the Cuba- Rushford Central School seventh-grader on national television with the news that the ABC crew would spend the next two days working on the railroad.
“You’re an awesome kid, my friend, and I have a big surprise for you,” Pennington told J. T. as they stood in the mist of the falls Tuesday with “Good Morning America” anchors Robin Roberts and Chris Cuomo.
J. T. has raised thousands of dollars — mostly by collecting cans and bottles — to bring sick and disabled children on the Southern Tier rail trip in recent years.
“We heard you need help with the train,” Pennington said. “Well, I brought my team in.”
Pennington’s surprise was part of a two-hour live broadcast of ABC’s national morning show in Niagara Falls on Tuesday, part of the show’s five-day “Whistle-Stop Tour ’08.”
The program began with the morning anchors leaving a train on the Whirlpool Bridge at the U. S.-Canadian border and wrapped up its second hour with a falls-side wedding of an Ohio couple.
It also included a segment taped Monday night that looked at the economic disparities between the cities of Niagara Falls in New York and Ontario.
“Just imagine, turning a corner, looking across the water and seeing this,” said anchor Diane Sawyer as a camera panned over the twinkling night skyline of Ontario. “Is it Las Vegas? Is it Oz? No, welcome to Canada. Same river, same falls, same mist, but the average household income here in Canada is almost double.”
Despite the highlight of the economic hardships visible on Main Street in Niagara Falls, local leaders glowed about the national exposure the show brought to the region.
“It’s really priceless,” said John Percy, president of the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. “To have two hours of national coverage and to have the entire show broadcast from the destination is enormous.”
Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster, who was seated in the second row during the on-air wedding, said city officials believe exposure from having correspondents from NBC’s “Today” and CBS’ “The Early Show” visit last summer helped boost the number of tourists in the Falls this season.
The two-hour live broadcast of “Good Morning America” from the Falls on Tuesday provided far more extensive coverage. About 90 crew and staff members arrived in Niagara Falls in a retrofitted Amtrak train for what is being promoted as a pre-election tour reminiscent of the old whistle-stop presidential campaigns.
The four co-anchors were shuttled by bus or ran between four locations in Niagara Falls State Park and on the Whirlpool Bridge while off-camera Tuesday. At one point, to illustrate the potential of hydropower, anchor Chris Cuomo — son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo — stood tethered at the brink of Prospect Point overlooking the rushing water.
Getting a glimpse of Cuomo in person made waking as early as 3 a. m. to get to the park in time for the show worthwhile for at least a few of the women in the audience Tuesday.
But it was J. T., the seventh-grader from Cuba, and his mother, Monica Simons, who appeared the most emotional during the broadcast.
“I was shocked,” J. T. said after learning the “Extreme Makeover” crew would help complete a mission he has had for four years. “I wanted to start crying, but I kind of had to hold it back. It was a huge shock.”
J. T. has raised money to bring sick and disabled children aboard the Arcade & Attica Railroad for the annual Make a Difference Day in October. But J. T. was dismayed to learn when he first started the project that children who use electric or oversized wheelchairs could not board the historic train without leaving their chairs.
J. T. wrote to ABC earlier this year and sent a video asking the network to send its “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” crew to help.
More than 20 volunteers and the “Extreme Makeover” staff began working on the Arcade rail cars and train station Tuesday and will return today and Thursday.
The makeover is scheduled to air on “Good Morning America” on Sept. 26, said producer Diane Masciale.
“I was speechless,” J. T. said after the surprise announcement. “It’s amazing. It’s been my dream for many years.”
