Tough times can bring out the best in people, especially when there is a chance to help neighbors in need.

With that in mind, Habitat for Humanity Allegheny Valley, North Hills Community Outreach and area Lutheran churches are offering assistance to those in need while giving those with a desire to help an outlet for their good will.

The plan employs financial assistance from Thrivent Financial, contributions and services from local businesses and the elbow grease of volunteers.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is a faith-based, not-for-profit financial organization that helps others through volunteerism and helps its members with banking, financial and other fiscal services.

The Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity program has donated $71,500 to the Allegheny Valley affiliate of Habitat, which is using the money to build a home in a new way. To publicize its efforts, Allegheny Valley Habitat is building the walls of a home at the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills Mall in Frazer.

The walls are going up outside Dingbat's Restaurant. Work is taking place on Wednesdays and Saturdays through September, and anyone who wants to help can bring their construction skills and pitch in.

Once the walls are completed, Weleski Transfer Inc., of Tarentum, will pack them into a moving truck and carry them to the home's future location. The company is donating its services, something many companies have been doing for years by providing workers, materials and services for Habitat projects, said Diane Belitskus, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Allegheny Valley.

Ms. Belitskus said this home is different from past builds in another way, too. This time, the group is having trouble finding new owners, largely because of economic conditions.

"We're behind on getting a lot chosen, but we have time because we'll be working at the Mills through the end of September," she said. Habitat is looking for a lot near the mall, possibly in New Kensington.. At the same time, her group is continuing to search for a future owner for the home.

Every Habitat group has a committee to select families through a process that includes reviewing applicants' finances and doing credit checks. The home is then sold to the new homeowner at cost.

There is one other Habitat homes available now, she said, in Natrona Heights.

"We've had plenty of applicants," Ms. Belitskus said, but the problem is finding qualified applicants."

The Pittsburgh Mills house is the fourth home Thrivent has sponsored in the Allegheny Valley. "They're giving us about 65 percent toward this house," Ms. Belitskus said.

Meanwhile, with a $1,350 grant from Thrivent, three Lutheran churches are joining North Hills Community Outreach to help eight families with repairs to their homes.

This week, a group of volunteers 12 through 18 years old, and their adult mentors from three Lutheran churches, are visiting seven North Hills neighborhoods, said the Rev. George Mendis, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church.

With additional funding from North Hills Community Outreach and $120-per-person registration fees paid by the volunteers, the endeavor is the first time the church on Evergreen Avenue in Millvale has put its youth group to work locally, the pastor said. Usually, they travel to a site where a natural disaster or poverty has created a need for assistance.

"We decided there are probably people around here who could use the same kind of help," said the Rev. Mendis.

The church invited sister churches St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, of Perrysville in Ross, and Perry Highway Lutheran Church, in Pine, to form a group of more than 45 volunteers. They'll fix homes for eight low-income families, senior citizens and those with disabilities in Shaler, Millvale Ross, Tarentum, McCandless, Etna and Bellevue. They'll paint, clean basements and attics, hang doors, repair cement steps and replace shingles.

Work started Sunday. Teaching the rewards of volunteerism is the philosophy behind the endeavor:

"There's a way to learn about one's faith besides coming to services," Pastor Mendis said.

People who are interested in applying for a Habitat for Humanity Allegheny Valley home can call the Allegheny Valley Association of Churches at 724-226-0606 or stop by the Habitat Restore at 1170 Industrial Blvd. in New Kensington for an application.

Anyone interested in helping to build a Habitat home can sign up online at www.habitatav.org.