Dave and Jenny Marrs traded their usual weeks-long renovation schedule for a single sleepless sprint, finishing a full home makeover for a St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital patient in less than 24 hours.
“Her faith is a steadfast anchor despite an unimaginably hard fight, and every single person who was a part of this build was impacted by her story,” Jenny wrote of Faith, the 17-year-old St. Jude patient whose home the FIXER TO FABULOUS stars renovated over the weekend.
The Marrses, the husband-and-wife team behind HGTV’s FIXER TO FABULOUS, joined St. Jude volunteer and childhood cancer survivor Jay Cobb for the marathon build, which Cobb has organized annually for families connected to the Memphis-based hospital. This marked the Marrs family’s fifth consecutive year taking part, with all five of their children pitching in alongside more than 100 community volunteers.
“We did it! We completed our 24-hour build for a St Jude kiddo in less than 24 hours!” Jenny announced on Instagram once the crew finished.
She described Faith as “an inspiring, strong, mature, light-shining-bright” young woman, the kind of person whose outlook reshaped everyone who swung a hammer on her behalf. Jenny called the whole experience “special and challenging and fun and sweaty and exhausting and amazing,” a fair summary of what happens when a television-ready renovation collides with a real deadline and real stakes.
Related: ‘Abundantly Blessed Life’: Dave and Jenny Marrs Celebrate 19th Anniversary
The build arrives as the Marrs family gears up for FIXER TO FABULOUS Season 8, a 14-episode run currently in production.
“We’ve been hard at work on 14 new episodes – we have 9 houses in construction now, 2 reveals are completed, and 2 more reveals are happening this week!” Jenny said in an earlier update announcing the new season, adding, “We cannot wait for you all to see these projects and meet these incredible families.” A premiere date has not yet been set. Season 8 also brings back carpenter Joe Looney, a fan favorite who worked alongside the Marrses during the show’s first five seasons.
Movieguide® has tracked the Marrs family’s HGTV run through its share of hard seasons, including Season 6, when a dozen tornadoes tore through their Arkansas community in a single night and turned planned kitchen updates into full rebuilds. Dave and Jenny have made a habit of showing up for their neighbors long after the cameras usually stop rolling, and the St. Jude build fits that same pattern: a couple with a national platform choosing to spend it on people who will never see a dime of it themselves.
That’s fitting, given who St. Jude was named for. Danny Thomas founded the hospital in 1962 after making a vow to St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes, and its families still never receive a bill for treatment, travel or housing. A 24-hour renovation crew is a small thing next to that mission, but it’s the kind of small thing that adds up to a family getting to come home to a house instead of a hospital wing.
FIXER TO FABULOUS Season 8 premieres on HGTV later this year, with an exact date expected soon.
Read Next: ‘I Bore Witness to a Miracle’: Jenny Marrs Describes ‘Spiritual Battle’ to Adopt Daughter
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