natchez — Seven proved to be a lucky number for the McGee family, as did 19.

The family is the 19th family to receive a house from the Natchez-Adams County Habitat for Humanity, and the seventh to be worked on by Natchez’s Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi.

On Saturday, the fraternity was hard at work installing the cabinets for the family’s three-bedroom two-bathroom house. The sounds of power saws and hammering could be heard all through the house on Martin Luther King Jr. Street.

Habitat for Humanity is Kappa Alpha Psi’s national philanthropy effort, and fraternity members came from all over the Miss-Lou to work alongside other Habitat volunteers. Some, including Tony Heidelberg, were a little more local.

“We are a community service organization and it’s part of our creed to give back to the community,” Heidelberg said.

Habitat for Humanity has been working on the house since October. Arnette McGee hopes that the house will be finished in about a month.

Andrew Calvit, president of the Habitat chapter, said the new houses help build up the community.

“Building community, building relationships, is important,” Calvit said.

The McGee family was selected after putting in an application for housing and being interviewed. When the house is finished, they’ll start giving the organization a low monthly payment for their mortgage.

Duncan McFarlane, secretary for Natchez’s Habitat for Humanity, said homeowners usually pay around $350 a month. Each month, they move a little closer to the day when they will have the mortgage paid off and the house will be theirs.

“This just puts them on the road to home ownership,” McFarlane said.

The houses are built with the new owners in mind.

“The size of the family dictates the floor plan of the house,” McFarlane said.

In this case, the McGee family consists of Arnette McGee, Dewey McGee, and their children Juan McGee, 17, Javonte McGee, 16, Anthony McGee, 15, and Damion McGee, 14.

Right now the family is living in Marilyn Heights, but they’re looking forward to moving into their new house.

Since Habitat for Humanity requires every adult in the family to put 250 hours into the construction of the house, most of the family was there, working alongside volunteers.

Arnette McGee doesn’t mind.

“It’s a really good feeling to be involved in building your own home from the ground up,” McGee said.

It’s that feeling of community and cooperation that appeals to many fraternity members.

“They love to see this day come where they can actually help somebody,” Ken Tillage, polemarch, or president, of Kappa Alpha Psi, said.

Any donations for Habitat for Humanity can be sent to P.O. Box 100, Natchez MS. 39121. For more information about the organization, call (601) 445-8639.