Habitat for Humanity of Seattle-King County may get families into homes faster, including in Renton, thanks to work completed last week during an annual AmeriCorps Build-a-Thon.

The weeklong event, hosted by Habitat for Humanity International, brought about 120 AmeriCorps members from 11 states and 27 Habitat for Humanity affiliates to the Seattle area.

About 30 visiting AmeriCorps members put the finishing touches on five homes at the La Fortuna site, close to Lindbergh High School. They also helped with construction on three more homes. When the La Fortuna project is complete, there will be a total of 41 Habitat-built townhouses there.

Habitat for Humanity of Seattle-King County is one of 1,600 affiliates of the organization around the country, building, repairing or renovating homes to house low-income families. AmeriCorps’ skilled volunteer members were also at Rainier Vista in Seattle and The Woods at Golden Given in Tacoma working on homes there. The week included activities and sight-seeing in Seattle for recreation during the Build-a-Thon.

The goal of the event was to help AmeriCorps members reflect on why they serve community projects like this, advance the construction schedule of local projects and examine ways to better serve communities through forging partnerships in different neighborhoods.

Attending the Build-a-Thon event was Andrew Castillo’s first opportunity to visit the Pacific Northwest. The 33-year-old from Denver worked on the roof of a La Fortuna residence last Thursday. In Denver, Castillo works in AmeriCorps Resource Development Department in Faith Relations. His efforts help create partnerships with multi-faith networks, not just the traditional Christian contacts.

Castillo worked in the corporate world doing digital graphics management before he decided to work for nonprofits.

“When I left the corporate world was when I made the decision that it’s not about the income I make, it’s about the impact,” he said.

Rocky Font-Soloway, another AmeriCorps member, worked on weatherproofing homes at La Fortuna last week. She’s been to Seattle prior to the Build-a-Thon, but never to do anything like build homes. The Philadelphia 25-year-old was previously a cook. She said her eyes light up when a friend told her about volunteering for Habitat for Humanity through AmeriCorps.

The assignment appealed to her because it would give her a chance to work with her hands, learning construction skills. As a woman, standing at just 5-foot-3, she felt more comfortable gaining experience through AmeriCorps and Habitat for Humanity than the traditional “union world” environment, she said.

“All of that just sounded like a dream come true,” Font-Soloway said.

Last week’s volunteers will soon make some families’ dreams come true too. Five housing units are expected to be completed this summer, with two families moving in this July. Six families currently live at La Fortuna.

The work that the AmeriCorps members put into Habitat for Humanity projects is valuable, staff said.

“We estimate that here in Habitat, having AmeriCorps members onsite helps us to leverage the volunteer base that we can have about threefold,” said Andy Varyu, local Habitat director of AmeriCorps partnership. “So we have about three times as many volunteers that we can manage because of AmeriCorps members leading small crews than we could if it was just our own staff alone.”

AmeriCorps is a federally funded program that places people, 18 and older, into one year service commitments with organizations like Habitat for Humanity. Anyone can volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. For more information about the Habitat for Humanity of Seattle-King County afiliate, which is headquartered in Renton, visit www.habitatskc.org.