Well-heeled nonprofit exec gets extreme home makeover

Sunday night viewers of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" are accustomed to seeing down-on-their-luck families in dire straights snatched from near homelessness, devastating medical bills, natural disasters, loss of the family breadwinner or bankruptcy and set up with new houses, furniture and, soemtimes, fully paid-off mortgages and new cars. The show taped in Hawaii to lead off next season's series on Sept. 23, however, isn't typical.

According to a story in the July 2 Honolulu Advertiser, Theresa “Momi” Akana, her husband Ben and their four children will now live in a new 3,500 square foot house at 3135 Kalihi St. in Honolulu, which they will lease from the preschool. The reality television show, developer Brookfield Homes and approximately 3,000 community volunteers also built a new 4,500 square foot community center for the preschool on the same three-acre lot.

The Akana's together earn $225,000 per year or more. Momi, executive director and founder of the nonprofit Keiki O Ka Aina Preschool, was paid $97,018 in salary in 2005 and the estimated salary for her husband, a senior vice president at First Hawaiian Bank, is between $125,000 and $183,000. The preschool's spokesperson said Akana's salary is comparable to what executive directors at similar nonprofits make and her compensation in prior years was below market levels.

According to the newspaper report, the Akanas had attempted to make repairs to their old home but they never had the money or expertise to finish their construction projects. A preschool staffer originally nominated the nonprofit for the makeover, but the show told the organization it only accepted families, which led the preschool to nominate Akana. The show selected the Akanas from more than 5,000 applications it receives for each weekly episode.

Keike O Ka Aina was founded by Akana in 1996 and has won national recognition. It operates more than 40 traveling preschools, the report said, and serves about 1,000 children and another 1,000 parents each year, specializing in native Hawaiian cultural programs.