The Story County Habitat for Humanity celebrated its fifth year in Ames Saturday with a fund-raising event and celebration at Moore Memorial Park.

Habitour 5, a fund-raiser in which participants ride bikes or walk for donations, serves as the biggest one-day special event for Habitat for Humanity.

It also gives people the chance to get together and celebrate the accomplishments of the organization over the past year, said executive director Anjeanette Perkins.

“It’s a fun way to celebrate and get together,” Perkins said. “The community is incredibly supportive.”

This year Habitour brought in about 125 registered participants, she said.

The fund raising all comes from the walkers and bikers who found sponsors.

Habitour, which started five years ago, was an idea from Habitat for Humanity volunteer Janet Lott.

“I was just starting with Habitat and I loved to ride my bike,” said Lott. “I thought that we could put the two things together in a way to raise money and bike ride.”

The Habitour 5 fund-raiser included activities for every fitness level: the Carpenter’s Walk (five miles), the Foundation Ride (15 miles), the Framer’s Ride (28 miles) and the Hammer Ride (55 miles).

Those not participating in the walk or rides were welcome to act as sponsors and to join in the celebration picnic afterward.

Coordination of Habitour 5 was taken on by the national bicycle club, Team Skunk. John Dickerson, member of Team Skunk, explained that the club is active in volunteering, and were eager to help with Habitour 5.

“Volunteering is part of being a Skunk,” Dickerson said. “We learned a lot and already have ideas of how to make next year’s event run even smoother and get the involvement of surrounding communities.”

He said last year’s Habitour raised $7,000 and that this year’s donations are probably close to this amount.

All food, prizes and supplies for the event were donated by local grocers, restaurants and merchants.

Habitat for Humanity is an organization that helps the community to build and sell affordable housing to low-income families with a zero-interest mortgage, Perkins said.

The family actually takes part in the construction of their own house, working a minimum of 500 labor hours.

All other labor is done by community volunteers and all supplies are donated by local businesses.

“We like to say that the community of Story County has built a total of 11 houses during our five years in the area because we rely on a lot of wonderful community support,” Perkins said.

This year celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Habitat for Humanity program worldwide.