The 100 volunteers working to put up the home's outside and inside walls and roof this weekend are all local women. It usually takes about a month to complete the amount of work that will be finished in just two days for the Women Build program, said Habitat Program Director Lindsey Arthur.

"This is a chance for women to get right in the mix and get hands on experience in construction, which many women don't get," Arthur said. "We want it to be a unique and special opportunity for all women to get involved."

Women Build is a national Habitat for Humanity program. It has built more than 350 houses across the United States. This is the second time Muncie has held Women Build; the first was in 2002.

"We hope that next year we'll have the opportunity to build a whole house," Arthur said. "All volunteer labor, subcontractors and possible even donors would be [women] for a Women Build house in 2005."

One volunteer, and crew leader, got her Habitat house last May. This is the fourth Habitat home with which she has helped.

"Habitat is a wonderful program, and every time I come out to a build like this, it reminds me about how lucky I am," Robin Evans said with tears in her eyes.

Without Habitat, she and her two sons, Steven, 8, and Joseph, 5, would still be living in an apartment with a "monster furnace" Evans explained.

Now, as a crew leader, she supervises the volunteers and gives words of advice to the future homeowner, Johnica Hall, 25, and her two children, Jabre'el, 6, and Jabreion, 2.

"I just want to encourage them and let them know it's reachable. It's a lot of hard work, but it's reachable," Evans said.

Hall helped put up walls and cut out windows on her new house at 1008 N. Elgin.

"It's rewarding to work on it. I put so much into it, I'll respect it more because I know what it took to build it," Hall said.

Volunteer Anne Robertson is here on a pay-it-forward mission. After a week-long Florida vacation in July, she returned home to find her home completely revamped. A group of her friends gave her house a facelift by adding new siding, paint and kitchen floor.

"We almost didn't see it because it was a different color," Robertson said.

Now Robertson is having fun interacting with the other volunteers.

"It is neat to see Johnica's face light up," Robertson said. "I think she is getting excited."

"Habitat is wonderful because they are helping people like me who want a home and could never go to a bank to get one," Hall said.

Habitat houses are not free, however. Partner families repay a 20-year, no-interest loan of $46,000. They attend 25 hours of classes on home maintenance, lawn care, good neighbor practices and construction skills. They also complete 250 hours of sweat-equity, helping build their own and other Habitat homes.

Hall's home will be finished by the end of November.