Breaking ground on Lawrence’s largest Habitat for Humanity project won’t be the difficult part.

Gathering the funds to complete the project could prove to be the challenge.

“We’re always struggling like any nonprofit,” said Habitat executive director Jean Lilley. “We hope for help with fundraising.”

The project, which will break ground in the 800 block of Walnut Street on Monday, is slated to house 16 low-income Lawrence families by its projected completion date in late 2008.

The housing development, called the Comfort Neighborhood, was named after longtime Habitat volunteer and former U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Clay Comfort.

Comfort died of cancer at the age of 74 in October, and Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony will also celebrate his birthday. Late in life, Comfort asked friends and family to assist in finding land and funding the project.

But so far, the project stands underfunded by more than $150,000, according to Habitat figures.

Habitat for Humanity executive director Jean Lilley says gathering funds for the Lawrence group's largest project remains a challenge. Lilley poses at the site of the development in the 800 block of Walnut Street, where a groundbreaking is set for Monday.

Plus, $130,000 of their already calculated funds hinge on the completion of 10 homes by June 2008. If the homes aren’t finished in time, Habitat stands to lose the grant money.

Building the homes shouldn’t be the problem, Kent King said. King, who owns low-bidder Kings Construction with his brother, Dan, said these kinds of projects typically take about three months from start to finish, infrastructure included.

But King said he didn’t know when the project would start because his company had to wait for Habitat funding to come in.

“Usually it takes a while,” King said, “when they know they have the funds ready for you.”

Lilley said about three months after groundbreaking, the company would need the cash to buy supplies and products for the homes.

“We have to have funds in place by the end of May,” Lilley said.

To do that, Habitat will kick off a fundraising drive that will start at the place where the dream of the neighborhood began: the friends of Clay Comfort.

The drive will also include telephone and mail fundraising, the typical path for the home-building nonprofit organization.

Not that that path has been an easy one to follow for the past few years. Internal Revenue Service Records show that Habitat raised about $149,000 in cash in 2002, a four-year low compared to a high of about $216,000 in 2000.

Lilley said the nonprofit was generally healthy, but the lack of charitable dollars in Lawrence has hampered fundraising efforts.

“I think that’s part of it,” she said. “There are a lot of charities in this town.”

The slowdown in incoming cash also coincides with the slowdown in home building, she said. Property is often scarce and expensive, slowing construction efforts over the past few years.

“We’re hoping this development will inspire more donations as we need them,” she said.

Next week, the search for families in need will begin in earnest with a public meeting Feb. 22 at Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vt. There, Habitat volunteers will accept applications and offer information to low-income families ready to own a home of their own.

So far, Lilley said, Habitat has four families already on the waiting list for homes in the new development.

Eventually, the project will house 21 adults and about 60 children, with each house averaging three bedrooms each, she said.