Habitat to the Max, a ministry of St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church, will build a fourth home for Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County with the financial help and physical labor of many parishioners.

Maureen Hamilton, Habitat to the Max chair, said the home will be built for a family of four on donated land in Piru, a small town next to the city of Fillmore in Ventura County. Last year the St. Max group built a duplex in Oxnard, she said.

The church is in Thousand Oaks, next to Oak Park.

The church Habitat team comprises 50 active members, Hamilton said.

“They are a tremendously talented, committed, enthusiastic group of people,” she said.

Building a Habitat home takes time, money and brawn. The church group must first raise $150,000 for the cost of construction and then build the home along with the family who will eventually reside in it. Construction takes between nine months and a year, Hamilton said.

This year’s home will be dedicated to the Rev. Patrick O’Dwyer, St. Maximilian Kolbe’s pastor who died suddenly last summer, Hamilton said.

Raising the funds to start work on the home has been the mission of many parishioners, including Mary and Maureen Harrigan, owners of the Stonefire Grill, which recently opened a new restaurant in Thousand Oaks.

The Harrigans hosted a preopening party at the restaurant last week, allowing guests to eat for free but requesting the contribution of a tip for the charity. The women matched the $7,600 received and presented $15,200 to the church ministry toward the construction cost.

For the past four years, the Harrigans have donated catered dinners and food service to the 250 guests who attend the church’s annual fundraising dinner and auction. This year the women also donated two dinner parties for 50 guests as auction items, raising an additional $2,900.

“We are amazed at (the Harrigans’) tremendous support for Habitat and think that their party and donation was over the top,” Hamilton said.

Maureen Harrigan and restaurant employees in West Hills worked on the Oxnard home last year, an experience that inspired the sisters to do more for the charity.

“Because Stonefire Grill feels strongly about supporting the communities we are in, it is my goal to get our new Thousand Oaks team involved in Habitat,” Mary Harrigan said. “Being closer to the Ventura County projects will make this an easier goal to achieve.”

Bill Larson of Westlake Village is another member of the Habitat to the Max team. For the past eight years, he has ridden his bicycle on 100-mile treks to raise money for the cause. Last year he raised $28,000 for Habitat, and this year he has pledged to raise another $20,000 for the Piru home, Hamilton said.

Stacy Swanson, executive director for the Ventura County Habitat for Humanity, said that to qualify for a home families must be legal U.S. citizens and earn between 30 percent and 50 percent of the median income for the county. In Ventura County, the median income is $80,000, so families earning up to $40,000 qualify as potential candidates for a new home.

Lower incomes are not the only condition. Qualifying families must be living in substandard conditions, Swanson said. Some families may be renting space in a person’s garage or live in overcrowded conditions by sharing a home with several families.

Habitat for Humanity is currently building two homes in Ventura County for families with children, Swanson said.

The families must be willing to help build the home, Swanson said.

“They need to put in 500 hours of sweat equity,” she said.

Swanson said the generosity of the members of Habitat to the Max leaves her “speechless.”

“They are an amazing partner,” Swanson said. “They don’t just write a check. They host fundraising events; they really participate and are involved with the construction. They are unlike any partner we have. We’d like to have more St. Maxes.”

Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County started in the area 26 years ago but initially just rehabilitated homes. For the past 15 years, the charity has also built new homes for people in need. The nonprofit has rehabbed nearly 500 homes and built 51 new homes since they began operation in the county, Swanson said.