On the brink of homelessness in Altadena, Nikki Payton, a nurse and single mother of three daughters, applied for a Habitat for Humanity home in 2013. The next year, the non-profit organization sold Payton, 50, a three-bedroom home in Lynwood.

Now, more than a decade later, she’s volunteering for Habitat for Humanity to build homes for families displaced by the Eaton fire.

“They did so much for me. I wanted to give back,” Payton said.

A partnership between the San Gabriel Valley chapter of Habitat for Humanity and The Foothill Catalog Foundation — a local non-profit dedicated to designing and constructing homes for communities impacted by the recent LA Fires — is bringing together nearly 500 community members from June 26 to 27 in Brookside Park in Pasadena to build walls, shelves and cabinets going toward the construction of 25 homes for 25 families.

The initiative comes after a $4.55 million grant announced last Friday from the Altadena Builds Back Foundation to SGV Habitat.

Payton has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity since 2014, when the organization helped her become a homeowner. Though she’s part of the LA chapter, she said she’s made it a priority to volunteer for those impacted by the Eaton fire.

When the Eaton Fire erupted in Altadena and Pasadena in January, Payton said she and her daughters could not stop watching the news. Her ex-husband and many family members lived in Altadena. And she, herself, grew up in the area.

“My ex-husband lost his home and it was hard to see the fires hurt everyone in this community that I grew up with,” she said. “I’m not in Altadena physically, but I’m still part of it.”

Payton worked the check-in booth for the rebuilding event in Brookside Park early Thursday morning. A distance from her, hundreds of volunteers sporting hard hats and construction gloves worked in groups to construct walls and components.

Tania Ortega, 28, woke up at 5 a.m. to commute from Orange County to work the event. She works for Global Emergency Relief, Recovery and Reconstruction, a non-profit tasked with cleaning and repairing homes damaged by the fires.

Ortega is new to using construction tools, but with guidance from Habitat construction staff, she took the lead on nailing together wooden planks.

“This all feels very impactful, like we are doing hands-on work,” Ortega said. “Our world and climate is demanding us to change. I’m happy to be a part of this.”

Actor Johnny Ray Gill, 40, worked with a small group of volunteers to construct wall frames. Gill plays Bobby Trey, a former police officer, in the Prime Video thriller series “Cross.”

“A lot of people are talking about the Palisades, but we’re talking about Altadena, a predominantly Black area. When you’re African American you are part of a larger community,” he said.

Originally from Portland, Oregon, Gill has lived in L.A.’s Koreatown for 15 years. He says he’s made it a point to be active in the community — whether it be protesting the ongoing ICE raids or volunteering towards fire recovery.

“There’s a fire here but there could be one in another place. We’re going to have to save each other and to do that, we’ve got to be out here,” Gill said.