Photos by Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Democrat Tom Perriello seeks the state's 5th District seat for U.S. Congress.

Zach Mayo (from left), Brian Bills, Sam Marchman and Brian Mandeville, campaign workers for Democratic congressional candidate Tom Perriello, volunteer Friday at a Habitat Humanity house in Bedford.

Liberty University student Justin Derrell, a campaign worker for Tom Perriello, paints a fence in Bedford as part of Perriello's tithing initiative.

BEDFORD -- Hammering brackets to roof trusses may not sound like it belongs on the congressional campaign trail, but 5th District Democratic candidate Tom Perriello has found a unique way to give back to the community.

Perriello and his crew of summer interns were in Bedford on Friday to help with a Habitat For Humanity project on East Cook Street, part of the campaign's tithing initiative, which seeks to give 10 percent of its volunteer hours to community service projects.

"It is part of my faith tradition. You are supposed to give 10 percent of your time, talent and treasure to the community," Perriello said.

The political newcomer from Albemarle County is running against six-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Rocky Mount.

Goode will be in Huddleston on Monday to award a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to the Saunders Volunteer Fire Company. The $50,000 grant will help purchase a fire truck, USDA area specialist Art Powers said.

Both Goode and Perriello are spending significant time in the western part of the 5th District, which stretches south from the Charlottesville area to Southside Virginia, and west to Bedford and Franklin counties. The district comprises 22 counties and municipalities and is the size of New Jersey, said Jessica Barba, spokeswoman for Perriello's campaign.

Political pundits are eyeing the race because of the fundraising momentum Perriello has garnered.

"This race is worth keeping tabs on because Perriello is Goode's best-funded challenger to date," said David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report.

Up-to-date quarterly campaign finance information will not be officially available from the Federal Election Commission until Tuesday, but Barba said Perriello has raised about $300,000 in the second quarter for a total of about $900,000.

Goode said Friday he estimates his campaign has raised about $395,000 during the second quarter.

"We are working hard and doing as much as we can," Goode said.

Goode has easily won re-election since 2000 by receiving an average of about 63 percent of the vote, which has included support from independents and Democrats.

Kyra Jennings, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said having Democrats Barack Obama and Mark Warner -- for president and U.S. Senate -- on the ballot above Perriello stands to benefit him.

"Having Obama and Warner at the top of the ticket will be helpful to Perriello and could turn out a different type of electorate than we have seen in past cycles," Jennings said.

She said the committee is expecting an unprecedented showing from young voters in the Charlottesville area and black voters in Southside Virginia at the polls this year.

But unseating Goode might not be that easy.

Wasserman said Perriello is not the ideal Democratic candidate because he studied law at Yale University and spent several years developing faith-based organizations abroad.

"The ideal candidate for Democrats would be someone who has Democratic roots in the southern part of this district," Wasserman said.

That may be an advantage for Goode, who has won the district as a Democrat, independent and Republican in the past.

Perriello also was in Bedford on Thursday evening to celebrate the opening on West Main Street of a campaign office he is sharing with Democratic committees from Bedford and Bedford County.

Jesse Gottschalk, a 21-year-old Swarthmore College student from Charlottesville, is one of 15 summer interns volunteering with Perriello's campaign. Gottschalk, who works in the Bedford office, spent Friday morning shoveling gravel to fill the floor of the basement of the Habitat home.

He said the Bedford residents he has met have made him feel welcome and that he already has had great conversations.

"This is a really tough area for us politically," Gottschalk said. "It probably is not because they are not open but because they don't know Tom."

Perriello and the interns were in Bedford last month volunteering at Bedford Domestic Violence Services.