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Anything that focuses positive attention on any part of Butler County is good for the whole county. Something that brings positive attention and, at the same time, truly helps Butler County residents is even better.

That's been the case with television's popular "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," which swept into town last weekend to demolish and rebuild a West Chester Twp. family's home in 106 hours. The show, now in its fifth season, is said to be seen by 1 billion viewers in 69 countries. That's a lot of free publicity for Butler County.

Why West Chester Twp.?

A couple of years ago, some educators from Hopewell Elementary School petitioned the television program's officials to help the Akers family: Greg and Ginger and their three children, Christian, 10; Brooke, 7; and Faith, 4. Brooke and Faith are in wheelchairs because of Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a life-threatening condition that weakens the muscles. Each of the other family members also suffers from varying medical conditions. As can easily be imagined, the family has mounting medical bills.

This year, the theme for "Extreme Makeover" is American heroes — families that inspire the community and give back, according to Conrad Ricketts, executive producer of the program. After ABC received more than 25,000 letters, e-mails and calls nominating the Akers family, the next step was obvious.

"Any time we have a community that rallies around a family, it's important," Ricketts said, adding that he wanted the world to see the family values being lived out in southwestern Ohio.

We could not agree more. Family values are strong in Butler County, and so is community support of anyone in need. While we're glad to have the national recognition (and help) of "Extreme Makeover," we never want to forget the local groups who have been doing volunteer work for years — helping their neighbors without an audience of millions.

We can't begin to list them all, but here's a sample of the kinds of efforts local folks are making to help those in need:

• RASKALS — Random Acts of Simple Kindness Affecting Local Seniors — began in the fall of 1996 in West Chester Twp. when 11-year-old Emily Weber sent a letter to the township administrator asking for a project that would help her community. Young Weber's desire to help others evolved into what has become a twice-a-year event: the first Saturday in May for spring cleanup and the first Saturday in November for fall cleanup. RASKALS volunteers help older adults with chores such as raking leaves, picking up trash, washing first-floor windows, sweeping sidewalks, trimming shrubs and planting flowers.

• Many churches, including Cornerstone Church in Liberty Twp., Princeton Pike Church of God in Hamilton, and Berachah Baptist Church in Middletown, are well-known for their work in helping people throughout their communities.

One good example of this is Berachah's partnership with Middletown's "My Park" association at Damon Park. Berachah's congregation supplied the sweat while "My Park" supplied the materials to transform a run-down, under-used neighborhood park to a community asset through an "extreme makeover" event.

As we reported at the time, what took place was truly remarkable. In the course of 72 hours, this temporary alliance repaired and painted fences, rehabilitated a basketball court and baseball field, planted new landscaping, restored a building used by the Salvation Army and constructed a 24- by 26-foot shelter for its neighborhood summer children's camp.

The success of this project is another example of people working together in partnership to accomplish something that would be almost impossible to do alone.

• Tri-State Habitat for Humanity has helped renovate more than 40 area homes for first-time, low-income homeowners. In its Tri-State region, Habitat builds roughly 15 homes a year at a cost of $62,000 a house, depending on the location and the family. Last year, in Middletown alone, five homes were dedicated. In May of this year, Middletown's branch of Habitat for Humanity dedicated its 47th house.

But the homes are not free gifts to the receiving families. They have to put hundreds of hours of "sweat equity" to be eligible to move in. This is truly a partnership between the hundreds of folks who volunteer their time and materials to helping a family become homeowners and those who benefit from that work.

• Among its many other good works, the United Way hosts the annual Spring Day of Caring. This year, the April event saw hundreds of volunteers countywide helping spruce up yards and doing needed clerical work.

As everyone knows, the United Way also funds the work of many other organizations that, in turn, help our communities as a whole and our residents as individuals.

These and many other organizations keep volunteers busy throughout Butler County — neighbors helping neighbors the old-fashioned way: By getting out and doing whatever work is needed.

Of course, sometimes it's fun to get out and watch other people work. Thousands of folks have been happy spectators at the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," eagerly watching the incredibly rapid progress on the Akerses' new house.

New house? New life. The transformation of the property and the beauty of the home is almost impossible to believe, given the slightly more than 100 hours it took to complete the project. The Akerses, it goes without saying, were ecstatic to see the final result.

We're a blessed community of good people and, with "Extreme Makeover" a done deal, a billion other people around the globe now know where Butler County — and all its good people — can be found.