A Home Worth Keeping

Every time Sandra pulled into her driveway, she glanced up at her roof. It looked fine to her. She had no reason to think otherwise. That's the thing about a home you've loved for 26 years — you stop seeing what's wearing down and start seeing everything it means to you.

For Sandra, that meaning runs deep. Her home is where she and her late husband built their life together. It's filled with things he fixed, projects he finished, memories only she can see when she walks through the rooms. “This is all I have left of my husband," she said softly. "He's done so many wonderful things in this house."

Sandra is the kind of person who fills a room. She loves going out with friends, shopping, and spending Monday evenings over margaritas and good conversation. This summer, she's looking forward to making the trip back to Hudson, New York, where she's from. Life, for Sandra, is full — and her home has always been the steady center of it all.

So when her furnace began struggling and smoke filled her home one chilly October night — enough to call the fire department — the fear wasn't just about the repairs. It was about losing everything she had left of him.

"I was afraid the house was going to catch on fire and I'd lose everything," she said. "This is my life."

The fire department came, assessed the situation, and told Sandra not to turn the furnace back on that night. She listened. But the worry didn't leave with them. Her son had already been gently urging her to consider selling the house, concerned about the financial burden of maintaining it on her own. Sandra wasn't ready to hear that. This was her home. She wasn't ready to let it go.

A friend named Janet pointed Sandra toward Greater Matthews Habitat for Humanity's Critical Home Repair program — and Janet knew firsthand how transformative it could be. She'd had repairs done on her own home through the program and wanted Sandra to have the same experience. Sandra decided to reach out, half hopeful and half uncertain about what to expect.

When our staff learned about the furnace fire scare, they were able to expedite Sandra's application and move quickly. A new heating system was installed. Then came the roof — the one that had looked just fine from the driveway, until the right eyes took a closer look. Sandra hadn't realized how much the shingles had aged. She hadn't known what to look for. But when the crew arrived and got to work, she understood immediately why it needed to go.

She loved every person she worked with along the way. She raved about the roofer who brought her samples, walked her through her options, checked in constantly, and promised to come back if she ever had a problem. "I have never met such a wonderful person," she said. "Besides the guys from Habitat — I have never met such wonderful people."

When we asked Sandra what it meant to be able to stay in her home, she didn't miss a beat. "Everything."

Her son, who had been worried about the financial burden she might face on her own, could finally stop worrying. And so could Sandra. "Peace of mind," she said. "Financially you're taken care of, the people I worked with are wonderful people. I couldn't ask for any more."

Now, when Sandra is out with friends — laughing over margaritas on a Monday, the way she likes to spend her time — she talks about the program freely. She wants people to know. She's already thinking about a friend who might need help, turning over in her mind whether she lives in the right county, whether there's a way to connect her to the right resources.

That's Sandra. Even in the middle of her own story, she's thinking about someone else's.

"We just say we're blessed," she said, smiling. "We really are."

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