Susan Buzzell of Windham was in front of her Cottage Road home Monday, marveling at the work that had been done in just one morning.

Her front steps were gone, replaced with two blue strings marking the path for a soon-to-be-built ramp. The trimmings around the front door had also been removed, to make way for an entryway wide enough to accommodate the wheelchair Buzzell will someday need. Sitting in the sun atop a stack of wood destined for the ramp, Buzzell was grateful that construction was underway.

“I’ve waited two years for this,” she said, pointing with her cigarette toward a dumpster full of worn-out wood. “I’m glad to see the stuff go. I didn’t think I had this much.”

The crew working diligently on Buzzell’s home was just off-site, taking a short lunch break in the basement of the church across the street. The group of teens, mostly from the Barnert Temple in New Jersey, came to Maine on a mission of charity.

Over the course of a week, they planned to renovate the home to make it more comfortable for Buzzell, who suffers from a degenerative back condition. They were to widen doorways, add the ramp, and replace the windows and doors, and in the process better understand their faith and their place in the community.

“This is not just a build. We call it an experience in Jewish religious living.” said Rabbi Joel Soffin, who brought the teens-14 from New Jersey and two from Maine-to Windham as part of a new program through his foundation, Jewish Helping Hands. Called Bonim Banim in Hebrew, or Bet Bet – Building Our Youth, the program aims to show Jewish teens how to integrate into their lives acts of loving kindness, along with prayer and study the pillars of Jewish belief.

Rabbi Soffin has conducted seven building projects through his foundation, but all were completed by adults. The experiences gained in each case were valuable, Soffin said, and he wanted to spread that experience to teenagers.

“We realized that this age group, who is eager to help in the same way, is not eligible for any of these programs,” he said.

Soffin was already connected to Bet Ha’am synagogue in South Portland, where he served as a rabbi. He then came in contact with the People’s Regional Opportunities Program in Portland, which helped him find Buzzell, who had been on a waiting list with the agency for home repair.

“PROP has been spectacular,” said Soffin. “Without them, we couldn’t have done it.”

With that, the group was off to Maine. After arriving Sunday, they went to Long Lake in Naples, to stay at a lakeside home loaned by a member of the Bet Ha’am congregation. Then Monday morning they headed to Buzzell’s, where they began work on the house under a bright, hot sun.

By lunch time Monday, the teens were drenched through their identical blue “Building Our Youth” t-shirts. Over sandwiches, they talked about the previous night, when they played the guitar and belted out songs, first traditional Jewish tunes then whatever they could come up with. They also reflected on the morning’s accomplishments, the removal of the door and the marking of the ramp path, and what the project means to them.

Eli Murphy, 15, of Poland, said he joined the program after considering the things he was thankful for in his own life. A week helping a person in need is time well spent, he said.

“It’s a real way to give back,” said Murphy, sweat glistening on his forehead.

One of the program’s adult supervisors, Matthew Reber, 23, of Brooklyn, N.Y., spoke about the justice of helping a person get the things they need. The teens in the program may not have the money to help the people around them, but they do have their own time and effort, Reber said.

“Certainly, the ability to give time to something is a just pursuit,” he said.

Modern society works to blur the lines of morality, Reber said. As a result, people are hesitant to call an action unquestionably right or wrong. But it is difficult to say that the work the teens are doing is anything but right, on any scale, Reber added, and by placing an element of God in their deeds, there is something permanent and forever in the work.

Shara Herman, 15, from Franklin Lakes, N.J., said she feels good that the renovations are not only helping Buzzell now, but also in the future. The new windows and doors will make her home more efficient and comfortable immediately, while the new ramp will be ready when Buzzell needs a wheelchair, which doctors say will happen in the next few years.

“We’re helping her out today, but she also won’t have to always worry about it in the future,” said Herman.

After lunch, the crew walked back across the street, putting on their gloves and work belts as they prepared to dig the deep holes needed for the ramp posts.

“We have posthole diggers and shovels,” said Richie Giberson, a carpenter with 22 years of experience who is acting as foreman. “We have a lot of holes. We’re going to have teams.”

As Giberson assigned adults as team leaders, the teens jockeyed for slots, hoping to work with their closest friends or favorite supervisor. Trying to corral one team in order to divvy up supplies, Giberson called out to Reber, “Where’s Team Matt?”

“Team Awesome,” corrected Reber, showing the wit and attitude that will carry the group through the day’s hard work.

Soon, the hole digging operation was well underway, with the teens working cheerfully through the soil and rock. Off to the side, Herman and her partner, Amanda Sacks, also of Franklin Lakes, N.J., moved the wood that will be used for the ramp.

“They are all highly motivated, so you just give them a little direction and they go,” Giberson said of his makeshift workforce.

From her living room, Buzzell watched the teens through her open doorway. It was her hard luck that brought the students to her yard, but hopefully, she said, the sweat and effort will leave them with a lesson for the future.

“They’ll all grow up to be good people,” Buzzell said.

Susan Buzzell looks out her new front door as work progresses on the footings for a new entrance ramp. Poland resident Eli Murphy, 15, watches as Jorge and Sara Losch work to shorten posts on the back steps at the home of .