Habitat for Humanity of Freeborn and Mower counties has chosen a family for its 2010 home build in Albert Lea.

The home, for Albert Lea resident Glenda Erickson and her two daughters, will be built on the corner of Alcove Street and Spark Avenue, 705 Alcove St., according to Don Hebert and Ron Burkhow, members of local Habitat for Humanity committees.

Burkhow said Erickson will be required to complete 75 hours of “sweat equity” time before the house’s blueprints are made, and by the time the whole house is completed she will have put in 250 “sweat equity” hours.

Habitat for Humanity recipients are required to put in a certain number of hours instead of a normal down payment by helping to build the house or performing other volunteer work throughout the community.

Burkhow said selected families must meet certain requirement: Have a need for a place to live, have income to make house payments and be willing to partner with Habitat for Humanity. In turn they can get a loan at 0 percent interest.

Though groundbreaking for the home will not take place until April, the organization is looking for teams of people from churches and other groups to provide labor and donations for specific parts of the home.

In January, people who want to get involved will be able to participate in a new program called Winter Wall Builders. The program gives volunteers the opportunity to build walls for the new home.

It will take place indoors at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Austin.

Since its inception in 1991, the local Habitat for Humanity has built 28 homes.

This year across the state, 61 homes were built.

“Our program changes lives, invests in our community and brings people together in an effort to fight poverty,” said Program Coordinator Hugh Alverson, who is also the ReStore manager, in a news release.