While "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" gets the headlines with its big-budget, hyper-paced home projects, local agencies have long worked to help Island families get into homes of their own.

Honolulu Habitat for Humanity has built 61 houses in 19-plus years, while another group in Leeward O'ahu will kick off an ambitious three-home "build-a-thon" project Saturday.

The Habitat for Humanity volunteer effort makes home ownership possible for families earning 50 percent or less of the area median income. It is not as glitzy as "Extreme Makeover" but both accomplish the same goal.

"They're the 'Hollywood' of Habitat. I love the program and it makes me cry all the time," said Susan J. Hughes, executive director of Leeward O'ahu Habitat for Humanity, of "Extreme Makeover."

The difference between the programs, Hughes said, is that "the people we deal with have to be willing to partner. They not only work on their own home but (on) others, too."

The organization also partners with families in all aspects of owning a home.

Leeward O'ahu Habitat broke away from the Honolulu organization and became a separate organization in September 2006. It completed its first project in January.

Anne Marie Beck, the Honolulu group's executive director, said about 400 volunteers participate in the home-building projects, which take about six to eight months to complete.

The attention generated by the "Extreme Makeover" project in Kalihi Valley will benefit Habitat, Beck said.

"I think it calls attention to conditions our families here are living in," Beck said. "Very typically, the families we help live with no running water, no electricity, holes in the walls and ceilings."

Habitat for Humanity also has branches in Hilo, Kona, Maui, Moloka'i and Kaua'i.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.