A house became a home this weekend after Jason and Amy Seville became the 28th family to secure a home through Habitat for Humanity of Franklin County.

The Sevilles had applied for the Habitat Partner Family program, which chooses a local family based on income, need for housing, ability to make payments, and commitment to working on the house with Habitat.

"The family had been living in a two-bedroom rented apartment. As their family grew, they were in need of more space. The kids didn't even have a yard to play in," said Mark Story, Habitat for Humanity executive director.

The Sevilles, married for 10 years with four children, were approved and expressed interest in continuing to live in Mercersburg.

Initially, Story began looking for raw land upon which to build a new house for the family, but land in Mercersburg proved to be very expensive, he said.

"So I approached the family and asked if they would be interested in us rehabbing an existing home," Story said. "So we began looking for foreclosed properties that were blighted."

Habitat found a foreclosed property on Punch Bowl Road that has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a half-acre backyard, he said. In addition, Habitat's nonprofit status qualified it for a "significant" reduction off the foreclosure asking price, Story said.

Once the property was secured, volunteers got started on the house. Most of the work was done by the Seville family, he said.

Friends and family of the Sevilles came together to help do the roofing, all of the painting and other projects around the house, Story said.

"(Roofing) is obviously a significant chore. It's a lot of work," he said. "We only had a couple of our Habitat volunteers on the roof because we had so many from the Seville family."

Volunteers worked to replace windows while local contractors donated their professional labor to put in a new heat pump, fix the cabinets and replace the countertops, he said.

In addition, several businesses made cash donations to help pay for any services that weren't donated, Story said.

"What we like about this is obviously it provided a house for the Sevilles, but it also took a foreclosed property and fixed it and put a family in there," he said. "There's nothing wrong with new construction, but if we can rehab in a cost-effective way, that's the best of both worlds."