A group of Bronxville High School students spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day helping to restore the fire-ravaged home of a Greenburgh family.

The students are part of the school's Habitat for Humanity Club, which recruits volunteers to help build new homes or restore old ones for the needy.

"It's very rewarding for me and it's not just about academics," says Jessica Mack, a junior at Bronxville High School. "It's about helping the world, too."

A fire forced the Hood family out of the Manhattan Avenue home relatives have lived in since the 1940s. Family members say they look forward to being reunited once more.

"Everybody should celebrate the ability to live freely, to have a decent home and then help others to have it," says James Killoran, of Habitat for Humanity.

At an event in Washington, D.C., President-elect Barack Obama spoke of thousands of volunteer organizations at work on this holiday in memory of King, a day on which Obama is pushing for commitments to public service.

AP wire services were used in this report.