As part of May sweeps, ABC aired a live episode of EM: HE where the team renovated the apartment of two fire fighters from New York City. The renovations were completed in a day, instead of the normal week. The show also included updates from families in previous episodes and clips of renovations that hadn’t been shown before.

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The entire design team and several families they have helped gather at the home of the Elcano family. The families share memories of their home makeovers and everyone is entertained by a special guest.

Each member of the design team went back to a past family and helped them "pay forward" their good fortune to someone else.

"Sweet" Alice Harris from Season 1 asked the team to give the L.A. Free Clinic a makeover. Ed led a crew on this project. Ty then went to visit other families before returning to help with the clinic.
Special guest – James Denton

Preston visited Robin Leslie from Season 2, and found her an evacuee from Hurricane Katrina, living in a trailer in Mississippi. They found that her house survived the storm, and then delivered clothes to other Katrina evacuees who lost even more.
Special guest – Laura Bush

Paul and Tracy visited Shelby Pope and her family from Season 2. The Popes and the team arranged for a special night for children with XP, a disease related to Shelby's condition of PMLE (Polymorphous Light Eruption), but more severe. A dedicated nighttime Southwest Airlines flight carried Paul, Tracy, the Popes, and 20 XP children to Orlando, Florida and Walt Disney World, which opened from midnight to 4 am just for the group.
Special guest – Brian Wilson

Paige visited Luis Rodriguez from earlier in Season 3, who wanted to help Bobby Isaacs, a fellow Iraq amputee (in Bobby's case, both legs) whom Luis had met during his initial rehabilitation. Paige's team sent Luis and Bobby on vacation while they made over Bobby's house, adding a new boat dock. Bobby was also given a new fishing boat.
Special guest – Bass fishing champion Mike Iaconelli

Michael visited the Broadbent family from Season 2 in Las Vegas. They wanted to deliver holiday meals to sick people, and did so after Michael arranged for a major hotel to prepare over 100 meals. The Broadbents also decorated the apartment of a man who had recently lost both his partner and his parents.
Special guest – Wayne Newton

The entire team reunited for the unveiling of the L.A. Free Clinic. O.A.R. played the theme song live.^{[n 2]}

Ed Sanders & Tracy Hutson surprise a local pillar of the Fort Lauderdale community named Essie Reed, aka "Big Mama". Although Big Mama is personally in need of financial assistance, she continually finds a way to aid the youth our her community. When Hurricane Wilma hit Florida, Big Mama instinctively jumped to action by soliciting food donations and feeding the residents of her low-income community. Ed & Tracy build Big Mama a community center for her non-profit organization, Team of Life. Then the team visit the Little League field (home of the 2003 World Champions), and provides a local couple a surprise wedding after their prior two attempts were ruined by Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma. Dontrelle Willis appears as a guest to throw out the first pitch of the rebuilt Little League field.

The team rebuilds the Biloxi Clinic of the Coastal Family Health Center, a local free medical clinic demolished by Hurricane Katrina, while sending the clinic's staff on a spa retreat. Preston creates a memorial for the local residents who died in the storm, while Ed and Tracy deliver washers to 29 families living in Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers.

The team rebuilds the 118-year-old First Emmanuel Baptist Church. Local musicians received all new instruments courtesy of Gibson. They also restored damaged photos and built a playground in nearby St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.

The team rebuilds Firehouse No. 4, which was damaged during Hurricane Rita while the heroic firefighters were working a grueling 36-hour shift during the storm and presented the town with a brand new, state-of-the-art fire truck worth $400,000. The team also rebuilt the local theatre while the kids are sent on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to New York City to learn about the acting business and see the lights on Broadway, and provided local residents living in FEMA trailers with a shopping spree to the local Sears so they can purchase basic necessities such as clothes, space heaters, blankets, etc. The town is treated to a free concert by surprise musical guests Goo Goo Dolls.

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Filmed in the high school auditorium of Waynesville, Missouri near Fort Leonard Wood. Ty and singer Jewel revisit military stories from throughout the series. Many celebrities appear to discuss issues the U.S. military faces. The duo also talks about how people in the nation are raising money for military families.

The team rebuilds the home of Chris and Mizzy Zdroj (pronounced "Stroge") which was destroyed in the Bastrop County Complex fire; Mizzy (a volunteer firefighter) was on duty when the home was destroyed. The team also expanded the home base of the Heart of the Pines Volunteer Fire Department (where Mizzy serves) by adding a third bay, and furnished it with new equipment including a brush truck. The family was sent on a bi-coastal vacation, first to New York City (where they visited the training facility for the New York Fire Department) and later to San Francisco (where the family toured Industrial Light & Magic; Chris and his sons are Star Wars fans). The Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) provided the entire volunteer fire department with scholarships to their annual fire training school.

The team builds a new home for Shilo and Kathryn Harris. Shilo is an Army veteran who was severely burned when an IED destroyed his vehicle while on duty in Iraq; his existing home (located in a rural area near San Antonio) does not keep out the dust and heat which aggravates his medical condition. The family was sent to Landstahl, Germany, where Shilo was able to meet with other wounded warriors.