“Salamat Sa Lahat Ng Biyaha,” means “Thanks For All the Gifts,” in Tagalog, the native language of the Philippines, where Daniel Cruz immigrated from years ago. His wife, Barbara, shares that sentiment. The Cruzes of Montoursville are KISS-FM’s latest lucky winner of an “Extreme Kitchen Makeover.”

Winning the “Extreme Kitchen Makeover” has put a joyous coda on a year that has been marked with some health challenges for Dan, a warehouse worker at Construction Specialties of Hughesville. Earlier this year he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, for which he is now undergoing treatment. Ironically, his wife is a breast cancer survivor. Dan remains upbeat and hopeful about his treatment and chances for recovery.

“It is unbelievable that we have won this kitchen and I can’t believe it is ours,” Barb Cruz told Webb Weekly. “We had an older kitchen, and we could never have afforded to have all the wonderful things and do the beautiful things that have been done for us through the Extreme Kitchen Makeover. We are so grateful to Gary Chrisman and KISS-FM and all the wonderful contractors and sponsors who put this Makeover together. It was like Christmas morning for us!”

Dan was ecstatic. “This is wonderful. It is amazing,” Dan Cruz said. “We now have a great, new kitchen that we could have never afforded on our own. We feel so fortunate and so grateful.”

According to Chrisman, this is the eighth time that KISS-FM has had the Extreme Kitchen Makeover contest. He said the contest worked this way; there were more than 20,000 entries for the Makeover. There were seven qualifiers drawn each day, and 208 persons became qualifiers. They would do live broadcasts and drawings from each sponsor location, and it was finally pared down to five finalists. He said the finalists came from Mill Hall, Montoursville, Loyalsock, Williamsport, and Watsontown. Off-air, a secret drawing was held, and the Cruzes found out they were the lucky winners on the morning of November 13, when a caravan of contractors, Chrisman, and people from KISS-FM pulled up to their house and delighted the surprised Cruzes.

“You can’t do something on the scale of this without the help of some very generous sponsors,” Chrisman said. “And we are blessed with them, led by John Albarano of Albarano Construction. He is our lead sponsor and coordinated the work for us by meeting with our winners to identify their needs and by helping to plan and oversee the work done by the various contractors. He has done a wonderful job.”

Albarano said he very much enjoyed being a part of the Extreme Kitchen Makeover. “It was a challenge for me because I had to prepare plans for five different homes and the Cruz home was by far the most challenging of the homes,” Albarano said. “It was a smaller kitchen, and we tried to give it a very efficient design. It is really great to be a part of this we have worked with Gary and the Extreme Kitchen Makeover promotion before, and it has been a great experience for us. It is wonderful to see how happy and grateful the winners are.”

There are a lot of other sponsor-contractors that helped make the happiness of the winners of the Extreme Kitchen Makeover, the Cruzes, possible.

Lezzer Design Center of Lewisburg provided the cabinetry. Susquehanna Marble and Granite of Montoursville made the countertops and other related items. Penn Hills Flooring of Muncy provided the flooring materials. Seidel Shiffer of Timeless Williamsport, did the design work, picking out the colors and other related things and Timeless did the windows and window accessories and allied items. Compu-Gen provided an electronic home security system. Aquarius Pools and Enchanted Christmas Design in downtown Williamsport provided beautiful Christmas decorations, including a Christmas tree and outdoor decorations. The Olive Garden on the Golden Strip supplied meals for the Cruzes, as well as gift cards and provided food for the contractors and their workers while they were working on the makeover. U-Haul Storage took care of the packing and storing of the Cruzes’ things while the makeover work was being done. Elery Nau Hardware of Montoursville supplied the Benjamin Moore Paint, Gary’s Furniture of Picture Rocks provided the dining room furniture, and Bill’s Appliance on Lycoming Creek Road supplied brand new stainless steel Amana appliances for the new kitchen.

Sonette Harris and her husband, Dwight are the co-owners of Bill’s Appliance, and her thoughts about being involved with the Extreme Kitchen Makeover are probably reflective of how the other sponsor-contractors feel about being involved with it.

“It is a nice opportunity to help someone enjoy a new kitchen and all the things that go with it, including high-quality appliances,” Harris said. “It is very exciting for us. It was great to see how everybody worked together to make this possible for the Cruzes and it has been a wonderful experience for us.”

For Chrisman, a promotion like this is what makes working in radio fun and worthwhile for him.

“This is what it is all about, to see the joy on the faces of our various winners is so much fun and is so satisfying to me,” Chrisman said. “This is one of the greatest radio promotions ever done in this radio market. It is a big-time production. We have great sponsors and great listeners. It does not get any better than this.”

I arrived shortly after the “big reveal” and was still able to see the joyous atmosphere that reigned. It was obvious to me that for the contractors and their workers it was not just another job but a labor of love. A labor that seemed very appropriate as we enter this season of giving.