It's not much of a house to look at now, but soon it will be a home.
Students from the MSU Habitat for Humanity chapter rolled up their sleeves this weekend to put the finishing touches on a house at 2509 Poplar St. in south Lansing.
The group first put its hammers to the house in October 2004 during an MSU football bye week. They pounded boards together during the long weekend and got the house "framed in," or ready for interior work such as drywalling.
With warm weather back in Lansing, the group headed outdoors Sunday to put up vinyl siding.
Sara Casetta, president of MSU Habitat, said she got involved because it sounded like a way to help others in her spare time.
"For us to give up a little of our free time on a Sunday means nothing - but it means everything to the family," Casetta said
The political science junior got involved with habitat while in high school and looked up the organization when she got to campus.
"I thought it would be a lot of fun," Casetta said. "They let you play with power tools."
She said the best part of the construction project was not the building, it was the people they were building for.
"They become part of your extended family," Casetta said.
For families to qualify for Habitat homes, Casetta said, they must meet financial requirements - like spending a majority of their income on housing. After approval, the families have to put in 500 hours of work into helping build habitat housing, including their own.
On hand Sunday was the home's future owner, Nureini Abdo.
Abdo helped the group nail treated plywood onto the buildings side, which would serve as underlayment for the vinyl siding. He said the home will let his family begin a new life in Lansing.
"For six years I have been paying rent in an apartment," Abdo said. "I am missing a lot of years of my life."
He said the apartment he had been living in was too small for his wife and four children. The new house, Abdo said, would finally give his family a home.
Abdo, who was born in Africa, moved to Chicago in 1997 before following some friends to Lansing one year later.
"My reason to stay is because I get to live in this house," Abdo said.
First-year veterinary medicine student Jennifer Johnson said helping families out is what kept her coming out to work on Sundays.
"It's rewarding because it's not a short-term project," Johnson said. "The people who get these houses work for them. This is not a hand out - we help them help themselves make a new start."
