LYNWOOD — Tuesday turned into a day of volunteerism at its best as Habitat for Humanity, Walt Disney’s VoluntEAR Program, and more than 250 volunteers began the transformation of a vacant lot that had become a public nuisance into 10 safe, affordable homes for low-income families.

The total building and lot area for the new project at 4237 Imperial Highway is 38,605 square feet. Five duplexes are scheduled to be completed within the next couple of months.

The day started for some at 3:30 a.m. and ended at noon. For some, the volunteerism spilled over into Wednesday with volunteers simply showing up just to volunteer.

Ernie Nishi said the day-long event couldn’t have gone any better.

Giving a lot of credit to the city’s Public Works Department for making the day go smoothly, Nishi calls the partnership between the city and Habitat for Humanity a blessing on many levels.

“The partnership shows the world that the No. 1 developer in the country right now wants to build in Lynwood, that good developers want to come to Lynwood. It’s just a matter of time,” Nishi said. “There’s a lot of good buzz going around right now because of Tuesday’s volunteer day, not just in the media, on the news, but within the community, amid residents and employees.”

“It feels good when the media shows the positive things that are happening in your community. … A lot of times, the media will focus on the negative stuff that happens, but there are a lot of positive things that happen here that get overlooked.”

More than 125 volunteers were bused to the event by L.A. Works, an affiliate of HandsOn Network, by Habitat for Humanity Greater L.A., and by Disney. The other 150 volunteers came from Lynwood and its surrounding communities.

According to Isabel Lee, a corporate project manager for Habitat for Humanity of Greater L.A., the project presented an opportunity for volunteers to contribute to their community in a meaningful way.

“People of multiple generations, ranging from teenagers to senior citizens,” joined together at the site “volunteering and celebrating the spirit of community service,” she said.

Aside from seeing a sea of hard hats and Mickey Mouse ears, which were donated by Disney, and the home’s wooden frames being erected one beam at a time, Mayor Maria Santillan said she has seen two or three homes being put up at one time — other Habitat for Humanity homes that have gone up in Lynwood — but never 10 at one time.

“It was a beautiful sight to see all of these people coming together for one goal, and the sun was barely rising,” she said. “Of course the homes are at the beginning stages, but ultimately, because of the volunteerism that turned out to support this event, 10 families will get the opportunity to achieve the American dream of owning their own homes.”

The homes will be sold for $140,000, with zero interest for 30 years.

Sound to good to be true? It does sound that way, Nishi said.

The homes are built strong and safe and durable. Just because the homes are Habitat homes, it does not mean that corners were cut, he added.

What’s more, people can say that these homes were built by Lynwood residents for Lynwood residents, Nishi said.

“When that happens, one can say, ‘hey, I helped put up that wall,’” Nishi said. “Families don’t have to drive far to buy beautiful homes any more. These homes mean that they can stay within their own communities if they want to, and raise their children here.”

Within the last two years, Habitat for Humanity has developed seven affordable home projects, but they’ve planned for a total of 23 homes. Twelve homes are currently under construction by Habitat, including these 10.

Using development funds, the city acquired the property for the homes for $456,000. Habitat pays for everything else.

The event also helped build a sense of ownership for Lynwood residents, said Nishi. “What better feeling than the sense of ownership when you help build a house for someone else in your community. There is none,” Nishi said.

In fact on Tuesday, Santillan said she met two families who have already moved into their brand new Habitat homes — located in other cities — but wanted to come and support Habitat as they began building homes for other families.

The 10 homes, according to Nishi, will count toward the city’s housing production requirements. Every year, the state requires cities to build a certain amount of homes within their city limits. In Lynwood, that number is well over 100, and more are added every year.

All of Habitat for Humanity’s projects in the city will count toward the state’s numbers, Nishi said. At the same time, the city itself is working on adding to those numbers.

In the works is a project called Park Place, which will feature approximately 99 units at the corner of Atlantic Boulevard and Carlin Avenue. Park Place will be the first project of its size in Lynwood, Nishi said.

“Can you imagine how this world would be if everybody just volunteered one day,” said Santillan. “It would be a much different world, a much kinder world.”

In hopes of inspiring more families to volunteer in their communities through their “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day” program, each person who volunteered their services was honored with a free one-day admission ticket to Walt Disney World or Disneyland.