Volunteers work in the rain Monday to hang siding on the 200,000th house.

Volunteers Ross Babbit (foreground) of DIY Network and Robert Hill work on tr

Volunteers have worked through rain and blistering sun alike to build Habitat’s 200,000th house, which is the future home of Koffi Kouassi, his wife Tonya Harper and their children.

The outpouring of volunteer help on this build site, coming from corporations, community residents and youth from all over the world, means that this family will soon leave behind an overcrowded apartment and a neighborhood that gives the children no safe place to play. They will start a new chapter of their lives, one that is full of opportunity and long years of happy memories.

”We’re building more than just houses,” says Ruthie Cambron, who works as volunteer coordinator for Anderson County Habitat for Humanity. “We’re building eternal habitation, and we’re fulfilling the teachings of Jesus Christ.”

Without the steady stream of volunteer help over the years, Habitat could not have hoped to reach any of the great milestones it has celebrated over the years: 100,000 homes, 150,000 homes and now 200,000 homes.

The volunteers on this 200,000th Habitat house are extraordinary only partly because of their help in making a such an important milestone possible. When Koffi, Tonya and their family move in, more than one million people around the world will be experiencing the joy and security of a simple, decent home. These volunteers are extraordinary for reasons that are becoming very personal to them–what they’ve meant to the homeowners with whom they are hammering, shingling, painting and sweating as they complete this house.

Find out how Habitat is looking to the future with its 200,001st house.

See how volunteers have helped Habitat reach building milestones in the past.