Stories about a Habitat for Humanity project are not unusual. The Georgia-based international organization has built over 300,000 homes around the world since its founding in 1976. And most, if not all, of the stories are heart warming and tell similar tales of good people and organizations working together to help others less fortunate.

A Habitat project in Cranberry Township featured on the front page of the Sept. 30 Butler Eagle contained all the usual "good news" elements. The local Habitat group was turning over the keys to a three-bedroom house in Cranberry to the Barbarino family. The article told the story of Jimmy Barbarino, 44, father to two young daughters and husband to Edie, who has been diagnosed with a brain tumor that doctors believe will take his life within four to six years.

Habitat projects often generate heartwarming stories, and that is especially true in this case. In addition to the Habitat volunteers, many members of the community stepped up to help with the Barbarino house. The business community helped, with leadership gifts of $35,000 from Lowes and Cranberry CUP (Community Uniting People). Grace Community Church in Cranberry also donated thousands of dollars to the project.

Last month, all those people and businesses who made the project happen were recognized as 200 people gathered for the Barbarinos to start moving into their new home.

It's a remarkable story, even more so than the standard Habitat project — which are all remarkable for what they accomplish and how they do it.

In the case of the Cranberry project, Habitat and others involved compressed the normal time frame from groundbreaking to completion to just six months. Usually, it takes 16 months to complete a Habitat house.

But perhaps most remarkable of all is that the project was begun as the senior project of former Seneca Valley High School student Caitlyn Elser, who now is a junior at Penn State's Behrend campus. And when Caitlyn headed off to college, her parents, Jeff and Diane Elser, took over spearheading the project.

Not so much a story of construction or donated materials or countless hours of volunteer labor or even thousands of dollars in donations, the Barbarino house is a story of people helping people, neighbors reaching out to neighbors in a time of need.

The Cranberry Habitat for Humanity story was different because it was launched by a young woman's initiative, and then supported by many people and organizations in the community. But the Barbarino project is not an unusual story in terms of the inspirational elements that are common to all Habitat efforts.