June 12, 2026

The heart of a home: Patricia’s journey of faith and renewal

Portrait of a woman with short dark hair, glasses, a pink shirt, and black arm sleeves standing outside a house.

The heart of a home: Patricia’s journey of faith and renewal

For Patricia, the house she moved into back in 1987 represents a lifetime of love and family legacy. It is the space where she raised her two sons as a hardworking single mother and ran a home daycare. The walls hold decades of joy, echoing with memories of building outdoor forts, winter snowball fights, and playing with her children by tossing locusts at one another. But as the years slipped by, preserving the home she loved transformed into a terrifying and overwhelming burden.

Hands holding a black photo album page displaying three pictures of young children, a brown frame with a photo of three adults, and a gold frame showing two young men.
A smiling woman with short hair and glasses sitting in a wooden chair holding a small pug dog.
Two smiling women hugging indoors, one wearing a baseball cap and gray shirt, and the other wearing glasses and a pink shirt.

Balancing two jobs at the Salvation Army and a local church meant Patricia had to sacrifice the exterior of her home to keep the inside functional. Just maintaining a safe environment became an exhausting daily reality as she fought constant battles with plumbing, a deteriorating shower, heating issues, and outdated wiring. These immense pressures compounded when a work injury caused severe nerve damage, all while battling debilitating panic attacks. Despite these health challenges, her sister began coming over to help around the house. It is a quiet act of love and support that Patricia cherishes deeply, giving her strength when she needs it most. Yet, the structural challenges of the home continued to persist. In her desperate attempts to keep the house functional, Patricia sought help from local contractors, who left her house repairs unfinished.

As the exterior of her beloved home continued to weather and decline, her son urged her to reach out to Wichita Habitat for Humanity. At first, Patricia felt far too proud to ask for assistance. It took the gentle wisdom of her pastor at West Ridge Community Church to help her see things differently. He reminded her that there is absolutely no shame in asking for help and that her community genuinely wanted to support her. She was determined to protect her long-term homeownership and refused to let her home become unlivable. So, she set her pride aside and submitted a request for assistance with Wichita Habitat’s Home Repair Program.

Front exterior view of a single-story beige house with green shutters, an overgrown front yard, and a dark car parked in the driveway on an overcast day.
A photo of four workers renovating the exterior of a light beige, single-story house.
Exterior view of a single-story beige house with a large tree behind it and a dark car parked in the driveway.
Exterior wall of a beige house featuring a window and a tall, sprawling rose bush reaching up the siding. A window on a beige house partially obscured by a leafy green rose bush.
Rear exterior of a house with older vertical siding, a back door, multiple windows, an older air conditioning unit, and dry grass in the yard. Rear exterior of a renovated house showing new beige horizontal lap siding, a back door, an updated air conditioning unit, a blue rain barrel, and bright green grass in the yard.

Our team stepped in to breathe much-needed life back into her property. We installed new siding, durable guttering, energy-efficient windows, and applied a fresh coat of paint. The impact, however, went far beyond those physical repairs. Patricia shared, “I was deeply moved by the kindness of the staff and workers. They treated me with respect and made me feel like a truly valued member of the community.”

Today, the place Patricia plans to live for the rest of her life is completely transformed. She no longer has to lay awake panicking about cold drafts, rotting soffits, or unmanageable electricity bills. “Now, my home is so comfortable, safe, and beautiful,” she said. “My children and grandchildren get to enjoy spending time with me now that my home has been repaired.”

Patricia was so thankful and filled with gratitude that she started handing out brochures about the Home Repair Program to her congregation. Her heartfelt advice to others facing similar struggles is to put fear aside and ask for help, trusting that there is help out there ready to ensure people can stay in the homes they own and love.

The front door of a house, showing the roof overhang against a cloudy sky. The front entryway of a house, highlighting a newly installed brown gutter along the roofline.
The side of a house undergoing exterior renovations with exposed white house wrap. Close-up view of a house exterior featuring newly installed beige horizontal lap siding, two windows with matching trim, and a brown gutter downspout.