Habitat for Humanity of Orange County builds homes. Habitat builds opportunity for the families who live in and own those homes. And Habitat also builds bridges -- of the human kind.

This spring a special Habitat for Humanity home is under way in Hillsborough; a home that is being built by a partnership of Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

The Interfaith Partnership is composed of members of Chapel Hill Kehillah, North Carolina Hillel, the Muslim Students Association, Interfaith Alliance, Community Church of Chapel Hill Unitarian Universalist, Chapel of the Cross Episcopal Church, the UNC Campus Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, and Alpha Epsilon Phi fraternity. Together they are raising funds and hammers to build a home with the family of six who will live there.

The Habitat partnership experience engages groups directly with the families they are assisting, and this has tremendous benefits for both the partnership members and families. Barriers of education, ethnicity and economic status can be broken. Partnerships can also serve as a spring board for a discussion of diversity and as a wonderful opportunity to develop long-term, collaborative relationships within the community.

"The Interfaith Build speaks directly to what the Muslim Students Association pursues at the core of our mission: pairing faith and action in public engagement," says UNC senior Aisha Saad. "This initiative builds on a collective commitment to service at the heart of our diverse faith communities in Orange County, and inspires out of this core commonality relationships of mutual respect and appreciation. We're so excited to take part in bringing to reality the completion of an entire Habitat House, while at the same time building relationships that connect across communities of faith."

Says Dave Morgan of Community Church of Chapel Hill: "Habitat brings together people of all backgrounds and ages. Even kids too young to work construction help provide lunches to the volunteers. Our partnership experience is enhanced by the diversity of this Interfaith Build. We learn about each other as we work toward a common goal."

And Sue Klapper, interim director of Hillel UNC reports that the Jewish students are also very excited about working together with others of different faiths to build a home in partnership with a family who otherwise could not afford to own a home in Orange County.

In a world in which we see, daily, horrific violence as the response to ethnic and racial difference, it is heartening to witness the joyful coming together of people so "different." The many people who make up the Interfaith Build are to be commended for their strong sense of community and openness as well as their desire to help those less fortunate achieve a better life. Tikkun olam is a Hebrew phrase which means "repair the world," a concept the Interfaith Build has embraced wholeheartedly.

(Anne-Marie Vanaman is the development director of Habitat for Humanity of Orange County.)