While some people were awakening to piles of leftovers the day after Thanksgiving, Winnetka native and New Trier High School alumnus Logan Duran was in far north suburban Zion, helping build a house for a woman and three children he’d never met.

Duran volunteered to work on the Habitat for Humanity house as part of the New Trier High School class of 2001 reunion, which took place last week. The reunion also marks the 10-year anniversary of New Trier’s involvement with Habitat for Humanity of Lake County.

The Class of 2001 approached Habitat for Humanity the year before their graduation with a proposal to build a Habitat house as their senior gift, said Duran, who was senior class president.

He said the students raised $30,000 for building material, and then rolled up their sleeves to help constructed a house in Waukegan.

“As class president, I didn’t want to be responsible at graduation for saying ‘Congratulations, Class of 2001 — you’ve donated a park bench to the school,’” Duran said. “I just felt like there was a lot more opportunity and resources, and so we rallied over 800 students to raise money and donate time. It showed we had great potential to do good.”

Each New Trier High School graduating class since 2001 has worked with Habitat for Humanity to help fund and build a new house, said Julie Donovan, the organization’s executive director.

“These amazing students gave a tremendous gift in 2001 when they graduated,” she said. “Because of them, they not only built the first ‘New Trier House’ they left a legacy.”

Habitat for Humanity is an international ecumenical Christian housing ministry that helps people build their own small houses, Donovan said.

She said it uses a self-help model – it’s not a “give-away” program. Families are selected after completing a rigorous application process. Habitat houses are sold to “partner” families at no profit, with interest-free mortgages.

New Trier officials said the senior class of 2012 is spending the year focused on supporting the construction of a Habitat for Humanity home in Lake County.  Students will raise money and organize support activities — including a winter carnival. They’ll also assist in all phases of the home’s construction, officials said.

Groups of students will begin work at the job site in January, and this work will continue through the conclusion of the school year.

Duran said that when plans started to come together for the class of 2001 ten-year-reunion, he suggested that the alumni once again devote a day to work on a Habitat for Humanity project.

“I thought it would be a chance to catch up with old friends,” said Duran, whose full-time job is coordinator of sustainability and environmental affairs with the Coach Handbag Company in New York City. “It was one more opportunity to give service.”

As it turned out, Duran, was the only volunteer from the New Trier class of 2001 who showed up for the Nov. 25 house-building event in Zion. Together with his fiancé, his parents from Winnetka, and two carpenters, they spent the day installing roof trusses.

Duran said he was a bit surprised by the poor New Trier class of 2001 turnout, but said he doesn’t blame his classmates for their no show.

“When we first started talking about it there was a lot of enthusiasm,” he said. “Once it came down to the nuts and bolts of it, in the last day or two, everyone unfortunately had to bail due to family commitments or work.”

He also said he prefers to focus on what the class of 2001 did in creating New Trier’s lasting relationship with Habitat for Humanity 10 years ago.

“It’s a great opportunity to do team building and create a sense of unity among the senior class,” he said. “There are a lot of people who actually have hands on the project, which is a pretty awesome experience.”

Duran said he first started volunteering to build Habitat for Humanity homes during summer trips to the southern states from his Winnetka home when he was 14-years-old.

“I enjoyed those week long trips because you can really see the tangible results of your efforts,” he said. “You start building from the ground up and after five of six day of working on it you can say, ‘Wow, this is an interesting before and after. Look at all we’ve accomplished.”