Shelter Island Reporter

Ready to get to work, from the left, back row, Janine Mahoney, Mike Mundy, Jeff Gibbs, Andrew BeltCappellino; front row, Corrine Mahoney, Gina Giambruno, Katie Siller, Morgan Anderson, Nick Kestler, Shelby Willumsen, Nurse Mary, Jimmy Read, Jay Card, Chris Napolitano and Corey Brewer.

Members of the Shelter Island School National Honor Society and other student volunteers raised the walls of a Habitat for Humanity home in North Bellport this weekend for a Haitian-American family who thanked them with tears in their eyes and then worked alongside the students on their new home-to-be.

According to Habitat, Monique and Joseph Jean-Fran§ois and their 8-month-old daughter are living in a cramped and outdated one-bedroom apartment with poor air quality and no place for their daughter to play. They are waiting for the arrival from Haiti of their son Jeff, who hopes to earn a university degree in the States, and their adopted son Angy. They had just learned that both sons survived the earthquake in Port-au-Prince and were unharmed, although the house they had been living in was destroyed and they were sleeping outdoors. The parents both work in Suffolk County - Monique as a nursing assistant and Joseph as a home health aide.

The experience "was very satisfying, Honor Society Advisor Janine Mahoney said about the day, and she gave credit to Jeff Gibbs and school nurse Mary Kanarvogel, who both volunteered to drive, and to the students who filled in for Honor Society members unable to participate due to illness. For student reactions to the day, see Newsday's on site interview at newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/shelter-island-students-help-build-patchogue-house.

Saada-Manou, the youngest member of the Jean-François family, as the walls went up Saturday on her new home.

This fall Honor Society students raised over $3,000 to participate in Habitat's "2010 Student Build Project and raised awareness about the homeless as well by spending a chilly night in cardboard boxes in front of the school, with a burn barrel for warmth.