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Her open heart, doors show compassion

Aug. 3, 2005	 News media contact:   Tim  Tanton * (615) 7425470*
Nashville {438}

By Jeneane Jones

(FAIRFIELD, Calif.) -- Sue Tom has been honored as "Woman of the Year"
at the California state capitol in Sacramento. A film on her family, "My
Flesh and Blood," took the grand jury prize for documentary direction at
a Sundance Film Festival and has aired on HBO.

Aug. 2 the 50-something single mother from Fairfield, Calif., returned
to a new home - one built in five days courtesy of the ABC-TV reality
show, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

Being whisked away for a Hollywood-style dream vacation while cranes
crunch your home doesn't happen every day. And while the bright lights
have been dazzling, and the accolades stunning, ask anyone who knows
about Susan Tom and the story of her 11 adopted children, and you will
hear that what makes her happiest is being a mom.

For three decades Tom has been opening her doors and her heart to
children who might not otherwise have a chance to live in a family.
Friends and members at Fairfield Community United Methodist Church say
she lives the meaning of compassion. Because they know her, friends say,
they are the better for it.

Her gift of giving to children began after she raised two birth sons and
realized she wanted to do more. That was more than 20 years ago.

Now her children include Hannah and Xenia, who have no legs; Libby, who
is in a wheelchair because of spina bifida; Cloe, who can't bend her
elbows and knees; Katie, who is mentally challenged; Faith, who was
burned as a baby; and Margaret, who wants to become a pediatric nurse.
In August, if all goes as planned, a new three-month-old baby will join
the family.

Rosie Aron, Tom's neighbor and friend for more than 20 years, worked as
the children's nanny for seven years. "Just being around Susan and the
kids, you're able to accept yourself better," Aron said. "She's taught
the kids and everybody compassion. She doesn't like the special needs
label. She teaches the kids that they're special, because they are as
God made them. That is how she sees the world and that's how the kids
see the world."

The Tom story is not all TV happy endings. Three of the adopted children
have died. But even during their passing due to illness, said Aron,
their mother imparted her kids with a love that has kept them growing
even in the midst of pain. "When [little] Susie passed away all the kids
were involved in it," Aron said.."It made it very personal and easier
for them to think about Susie in a personal way."

At the Fairfield church on July 31, Aron was a blur of blue and tan,
wearing an "Extreme Makeover t-shirt and slacks. She had just enough
time to finish church and get breakfast before heading back to the
construction site where she would join several hundred volunteers,
designers and construction workers building the Toms' new home.

The "Extreme Makeover" show was the talk of the town beginning July 29
when the TV cameras, crews and requisite police security commandeered a
Fairfield neighborhood near Travis Air Force Base. Reality TV producers
welcomed the help the volunteers and construction teams who worked
around the clock. They first demolished the old home and then built the
Toms' new three-story, state-of-the-art house.

"I left it at noon on Friday, and they'd just finished the foundation
and started building the walls," Aron said. "I went back on Saturday and
the house was done. The windows were in. It was painted on the outside -
three stories of this gorgeous shade of brown."

The day before the Toms' return, crews were setting out shade trees and
finishing up landscaping. An elevator was being installed in the house,
and an outdoor pool was being completed. They were among the surprises
awaiting the family's return.

The Rev. Tom Kimball has been the family's pastor at Fairfield Community
United Methodist Church for just a month. It didn't take him long to see
what makes the Tom family stand out. He looks forward to offering a
blessing on the new Tom home in the days ahead.

"Everyone loves them," Kimball said. "Church members say they hear about
the problems the children have and think it must be very sad. Then they
see how well-adjusted the kids are, how loved and loveable."  On Sundays
he often finds two or three of the Tom children on the front pew of the
church showing him some love and more than a few giggles.

Aron, her 16-year-old daughter, Jamie, and most of the Fairfield
Community United Methodists  expected to be in the streets cheering when
the Toms returned. Fairfield police planned for several hundred
onlookers, well wishers and the avid "Extreme Makeover" fans trying for
a last glimpse of designer heart throb Ty Pennington.

It was the final wrap for the TV reality show that found deserving
families and gave them the home of their dreams. For the Toms, it
promised to be the start of a new chapter in a life that spills over
with compassion, and as one church member put it "is rubbing off on all
of us."


"Sue is more than an amazing woman," Kimball said. "She's the United
Methodist equivalent to Mother Teresa."

*Jeneane Jones is communications director for California-Nevada Annual
Conference. News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615)
742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org <BLOCKED::http://umns.umc.org>

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