Saturday's bright blue sky and brisk air combined to make the kind of day when others might have gone for bicycle rides, autumn walks or picnics.
Not so for a cluster of dedicated Kellogg Community College students and other adult volunteers. They got together for several hours to give something of themselves -- to the Battle Creek Area Habitat for Humanity.
Through the co-curricular service initiative Bruins Give Back, the students had selected the nonprofit housing program as the latest recipient of the generosity they bestow several times each year through community-service projects.
Saturday's crew consisted chiefly of 30 members of the women's softball and soccer teams at the college. Starting about 9 a.m., in two shifts that lasted into the afternoon, they worked to empty a building at 300 W. Jackson St., which the Habitat organization intends to sell.
The building, former site of the organization's now-defunct Youth Build program, has been used for storage for a few years, said Dirk VanStralen, construction director for Habitat for Humanity.
The goal was to remove items that had been kept there -- unused construction materials such as insulation, blue board and trim -- and take them to Habitat's ReStore, near its offices at 551 W. Michigan Ave.
"We are vacating the building to make it more marketable" for eventual sale, VanStralen said.
As the volunteers formed a bucket brigade to shift insulation bundles from the building to waiting trucks, eight other students worked at the ReStore, said Amanda DesLauriers, an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer who coordinated the day's activities. Several other adults also were on hand to help.
The challenging work took hours, but the members of the KCC women's softball team were all smiles about what they'd accomplished that morning.
"It helps the community," said Brandy Helbling, 20, of Harper Creek.
"I get the feeling of satisfaction helping others," said Emily Butts, 19, of Battle Creek.
Both are veteran volunteers with Habitat, having worked last year to help demolish the side of a house that required new construction.