Extreme Home Makeover Drops in for Coffee

Ty Pennington and the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" designers surprised a second St. Louis family when they knocked on Sam Malek's coffee shop, More Than Coffee, located in Manchester, Mo.
 
Born in Cairo, Egypt, with cerebral palsy, Malek's parents were overwhelmed with the miracle of his life when he started breathing shortly after the doctors pronounced him to be a stillborn. This would be the first of many miracles in the life of Malek. He continues to beat the odds and is now a 44-year-old married father of two teenage sons and a business owner. Malek took out a second mortgage on his home in 2007 to purchase the drive-through coffee shop where his mission is to "help challenged people one cup at a time." He does so by employing handicapped individuals and letting customers help decide which charitable organization will be the recipient of the coffee shop's benevolence each month.
 
"Sam is a true hero and is a living testimony of the potential all of us can reach when given the opportunity," says Dave Dunlap of Consolidated Construction Group. "His hard work, perseverance and success are an inspiration to us all, and in particular for families like the Martirezes. Dawn and Emmanuel fight on a daily basis to provide the same opportunities for their special-needs sons Evan and Alec that are taken for granted by most. Sam is an example that hope can prevail."
 
"When ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' told us about Sam, again we had to say ‘yes!'," added John Shea of Callier Thompson Shea. "Sam always puts himself and his needs last and we are excited to build a new and improved coffee shop for his employees, family and the community that is so dedicated to supporting his mission. Our plan is to complete construction within the next two days."
                                                                  
While Ty and the designers, local builders Callier Thompson Shea Construction & Design LLC and Consolidated Construction Group Inc., and hundreds of volunteers and workers rebuild the More Than Coffee shop to make it more efficient, safe and ADA compliant, the coffee will continue to flow from a temporary location in the same parking lot at 14240 Manchester Road, and Malek will be spending his time volunteering at the Martirez build.
 

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