"It is overwhelmingly wonderful," Fyffe said. "It's something that you dream of, and here it has happened."

Linda Warnick, a widowed mother of six, works in a salon in the basement of her home and attends Utah Valley State College, where she is studying to become a teacher. She said this experience has showed her that even though she's lost a key member of her family, others are there to help fill the void.

"There's just so much love," Warnick said. "Both of my parents have passed away, and so I don't have family. It's just been wonderful to realize that my neighbors and my ward are my family."

The project has been spearheaded by five members of the neighborhood who have professional backgrounds as contractors. Those men have donated untold hours and resources to the project, but said the reaction of the widows has made the sacrifice worthwhile.

"It's been very fulfilling to see the reaction of the widows and just let them feel that they're supported and people are concerned about them," said Bret Miller, who supervised the tile work at the three homes.

"They feel a little more lonely than people that have spouses. Sometimes they feel like there's not a whole lot of concern for them. It's been great for me to just to feel that love."

Miller, like most of the adults at the project, said his children have been enthusiastically involved in the project and have learned a great lesson from that involvement.

"Every time I get home, (my children) want to come down here and work," Miller said. "It's been really good for them to get lost in service.' Many of the contractors are in their busy season, and acknowledged that their businesses have taken a small hit as they've spent at least six hours a day on the Widow Project for three weeks now, and some of those days have stretched into 12-hour shifts.

"But there's always more important things than money," supervisor Kevin Davis said.

The contractors, and the inexperienced laborers who have shown up in droves to help them, say the project has brought a great sense of fulfillment to them as they've given neighbors something that they could have not done for themselves.

And that, Wellman said, is what project is all about.

"To me, the scriptures teach us that pure religion is visiting your neighbor and helping the needy," Wellman said.

And as neighborhood members with differing religious beliefs have focused on the beliefs they share, the result has been phenomenal.

"This rivals, in my mind, what you'll see on those home makeover shows on television," Wellman said.

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E-mail: jtwitchell@desnews.com