Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Episode 6.18 Ruiz Family

"Ruiz Family" -- Twelve years ago Maria Ruiz and her family stopped construction on their home -- leaving it almost entirely unfinished -- and turned their efforts towards feeding poor families in Juarez, Mexico and helping their local community. Now Ty and the designers will be traveling to El Paso, Texas, to finish the job of fixing their home in only seven days.

Every day Maria and her husband, Jesus, travel across the border to bring food, clothing and supplies to thousands completely free of charge. Maria and Jesus both work multiple jobs in order to support their family and their charitable foundation. CNN recently named Maria as one of the "Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2008" for her selfless work.

In 1996, when Maria began her foundation, construction on the Ruiz home was just over half-finished. The whole concept for the foundation entailed that the family's resources and passions would go to feeding the hungry and helping their local community, so today their own home stands as it did twelve years ago, unfinished. In addition to exposed plywood floors and uncompleted dry wall, the actual house structure tilts in, apparently caving in on itself. The home has no heat and also suffers from water damage, cracks in the floors and walls. Moreover, because the food bank doesn't have a kitchen or storage area, the Ruiz family use their living room to store and prepare food donations, that go to feeding the hungry and helping their local community, so today their own home stands as it did twelve years ago, unfinished.

Thanks to this family's giving spirit, thousands of starving people have been fed. Now it's up to Ty and the designers to finally finish the Ruiz home and provide them a storage facility and a truck so they can continue to help others. While Ty and the designers, local builder Desert View Homes and hundreds of volunteers and workers are building their home, the Ruiz family will go on vacation to the Atlantis Resort in Paradise Island, Bahamas. In addition, "America's Personal Trainer," Tony Little, most recognized for his infomercials and appearances on home shopping channels, drops by to demonstrate some cutting, slicing and dicing techniques to help demolish the Ruiz's old home.