A homeless O'ahu family of 13 — three adults and 10 children — that has lived for more than a decade on Mokule'ia Beach soon will be moving into a new seven-bedroom home in Nanakuli, thanks to luck, hard work and the good intentions of many who cared.

"We have been so blessed," said Rose Kaneakua, 27, whose six children will have a roof over their heads for the first time in their lives. "The kids are very excited to know they will finally have a place. We've gone through many evictions being homeless."

Over the weekend a small army of volunteers from Castle & Cooke Hawai'i worked with the family and Habitat for Humanity Leeward O'ahu to paint, saw and hammer the beginnings of a house into what will soon become a home.

"What we're doing here is helping to deliver a dream," said Doug Pearson, vice president of construction for Castle & Cooke. Co-sponsoring the Kaneakua family home with Leeward Habitat seemed like a natural fit, he said.

Leeward Habitat is a local nonprofit home-building group affiliated with a worldwide organization that assists residents who have a steady income and the necessary land, but who don't qualify for a traditional mortgage because they earn 50 percent or less than the median area income.

Kehau Hanohano, acting president for Leeward Habitat, said the Kaneakua family, with 10 children, was among the neediest the organization had encountered.

"Need has a great deal to do with how we pick who we'll work with," Hanohano said.

Other considerations are a steady source of income and a willingness to partner. That partnership includes a commitment to complete hundreds of hours of "sweat equity" labor, not only in the building of their own home, but in helping build the homes of others in the partnership, she said.

The major requisite is having land on which to build. The Kaneakua family had that. But Kaneakua said her family came close to losing the Hawaiian Homestead land acquired in 1987 by her grandmother, Annie Pa Keawemauhili, a pure Hawaiian. After Keawemauhili died, the land reverted to Kaneakua's father, John Keawemauhili, 49, who's also full-blooded Hawaiian.

But he couldn't afford to build on the land. The problem was compounded when he lost his job and the family became homeless in the early 1990s. For months the family lived in a shelter in Hale'iwa. When that ended, the family moved onto Mokule'ia Beach, and has been there since.

Recently the family was told it would lose its homestead property because nothing had been done with it. But by that time Keawemauhili had turned the property over to his two daughters, Rose Kaneakua and Mahealani Keawemauhili, mother to the other four children.

And since Rose's husband, Kaulana, has a steady job, the family qualified for a Habitat for Humanity home.

"We came very close to losing everything," Kaneakua said. "This is our one chance. We feel so grateful."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.