By Glenn Rolfe

Spring break for some means beaches, partying and fun in the sun.

But there’s a group from Hamilton College that chose an alternative.

Eight students from the private liberal arts school in central New York used their vacation to volunteer with Sussex County Habitat for Humanity.

“I had never done anything like this,” said Mary Hurner, a sophomore from Utah. “I had never done Habitat before, but obviously, I had heard of it.”

The volunteer initiative this week united students from several states and various countries.

“I wanted to spend my time just doing something on the ground, to do something good,” said sophomore David Li of Shanghai. “It makes me feel happy.”

Fellow sophomore Prabin Khadka brought to Sussex County skills he learned from his parents back in his native Nepal.

“I like to have … fun with people and do what I do in Nepal. I like (to) help as much as I can. If I am with friends, … doing manual labor, like volunteering, it’s fun,” Mr. Khadka said. “It’s kind of nostalgic to me.”

Tuesday was for outdoor work at an existing Habitat home in Prince Georges Acres in Dagsboro. The octet’s task was removing overgrowth and small stumps, plus general yard cleanup.

“This is a renovation project. They (first) renovated this house in 2011, I believe,” said Ms. Hurner, who served as team leader. “A Habitat family lived in the house until … relatively recently. Now, Habitat for Humanity for Sussex County rebought the house, and they are revamping it for another family.”

Anthony Pretti, construction site manager for Sussex County Habitat, explained further.

“We call it ‘recycle.’ It has actually been in use as a Habitat home. In the event when people are leaving a Habitat home, we usually have the first opportunity to buy it. Most of the time we do,” he said. “Then, we recycle it and make it all new and fresh for the next occupant. Then, we find another homeowner that is ready to move into the neighborhood.”

Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit Christian ministry that seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness around the world. It utilizes donated labor and materials from the community, homeowners’ own sweat equity and corporate gifts-in-kind to make safe and affordable housing a reality.

The Hamilton students arrived Sunday by van for their week’s stay. Their lodging: a Habitat-owned apartment complex in Georgetown.

“Sleeping bags,” Ms. Hurner said. “We cook together. It’s really neat.”

On Monday, they assisted at a Habitat multi-home construction site in the Laurel area.

“We had hammers and nails and all that stuff,” Ms. Hurner said. “It was really fun. A lot of us had never done anything like that. It was a cool site. They are building five houses, and they have two up.”

The budding builders were at yet another Habitat location Wednesday.

Junior Camille Donaghey is no stranger to Habitat for Humanity. She volunteered with the agency when she was a high school student in Maryland, assisting on projects in New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

“I’ve done it four years, all through high school,” said Ms. Donaghey. “A lot of my friends are abroad right now. I thought, ‘I am not really doing anything for two weeks.’ It’s such a long break. And I missed doing it. I love building things.”

She noted Habitat’s element of the unknown.

“We don’t know what we are doing — until we get here. You don’t know if we’re going to be inside or outside,” she said.

Rounding out the college contingent are Val Laurianti of Cleveland, Dasomie Kim of New Jersey, Jade Joyce of New Mexico and senior Cherry Zhang, a native of China who did community service at a zoo while attending high school near Poughkeepsie, New York.

“It is definitely rewarding. The reason I chose to do it is because I’ve never done anything like this,” said Ms. Zhang. “In high school, we did a lot of community service. I kind of missed it.”

Mr. Pretti applauded the students’ energy, motivation and commitment.

“We are so lucky because we get college students all through March and April. It’s great. It gives us a big jump on all our spring projects,” he said. “It’s a blessing because they are here every day.”