Building Homes, Communities, and Hope
- Jessica Lee
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
When Patricia Burch stepped into the role of Chief Executive Officer at Habitat for Humanity of Wake County in October 2022, she didn’t arrive as a visitor to the affordable housing conversation; she arrived as someone who has spent years in the work, learning it from the inside out. After nearly 16 years with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Birmingham (including time as Executive Director), Patricia brought that hard-earned experience to Wake County at a moment when the need for stable housing was already urgent and still growing.
Her career reads like a “Rotary résumé,” even before you add the titles: steady leadership, community board service, and a clear focus on building strong teams that turn good intentions into real outcomes. Rotary’s mission is to provide service, promote integrity, and advance goodwill and peace, and if you’ve ever watched someone lead with both heart and practicality, you’ll recognize that same DNA in the way Patricia approaches housing as a community responsibility, not a side project.
Habitat for Humanity of Wake County and its mission and achievements
Habitat Wake’s mission statement is simple enough to remember and big enough to live out: bringing people together to build homes, communities, and hope. And “together” is not a slogan here it’s the model. Habitat Wake works to expand access to affordable homeownership, preserve existing homes, and advocate for policy changes that widen the path for more families. The organization also names the reality plainly: in our community, one in four families is cost-burdened, paying so much for housing that other basics like food, health care, and education get squeezed.
The scale of the work is impressive, and it’s also deeply local. Since 1985, Habitat Wake has built more than 850 safe, affordable, energy-efficient homes across Wake and Johnston counties, serving nearly 2,000 families through new construction, preservation, and global building efforts. That same commitment reaches beyond county lines too. Habitat Wake describes itself as one of the top affiliates in global building, contributing several million dollars since its founding, including support for building in places like Cambodia, Honduras, and Malawi.
For Rotarians, it’s hard not to see the parallels. Rotary talks about people uniting and taking action to create lasting change, and Habitat Wake is doing exactly that right here through economic stability, community strength, and practical pathways to opportunity. It’s community development that you can literally stand inside of, once the drywall is up.
Patricia’s message to our club landed with the weight of something we all already sense: Raleigh’s growth has brought energy and opportunity, but it has also made the housing challenge sharper, and more personal. Habitat Wake’s advocacy work points out that cost burden isn’t just a statistic; it’s the daily math families do when wages don’t match rent or home prices, even for essential workers like teachers, childcare workers, and firefighters. You could feel the room nodding along, not because the topic was comfortable, but because it was familiar.
She also made sure we understood what Habitat is and what it isn’t. Habitat Wake homeowners build and purchase their homes; they complete education and a minimum level of “sweat equity,” and they commit to the responsibilities of homeownership. This isn’t charity that happens to people; it’s partnership that happens with people. Habitat’s own materials emphasize that the work is in-depth and demanding because long-term success matters. Families don’t just receive keys; they build the foundation beneath those keys.
And then came the part that quietly tied everything together: belonging. Patricia spoke to the need for community acceptance, about pushing back on the stigma that can cling to the words “affordable housing,” and about building neighborhoods where families feel welcomed, not “placed.” Habitat Wake puts language behind that idea, describing advocacy that builds inclusive neighborhoods through public education and by challenging stigmas. Even their public updates, from inclusive community builds to Pride Build, underscore a consistent message: safe, affordable housing is for people of all backgrounds, and community is something we create on purpose.
Why we do what we do
Most of us joined Rotary because we wanted our time to matter. Not in a vague, résumé kind of way, but in the kind of way that shows up in someone else’s Tuesday morning. Housing is one of those issues that touches everything: health, school success, job stability, even the ability to dream long-term. Habitat’s language about sweat equity describes it as a non-monetary investment, an opportunity to work alongside others to bring a family’s dream to life, and that idea feels very Rotary. It’s effort with dignity attached to it.
Rotary’s Four-Way Test asks us if what we do is true, fair, goodwill-building, and beneficial. When you put Patricia’s presentation next to those questions, the alignment is almost too clear: Is it the truth that housing costs are straining families? Yes. Is it fair that essential workers can’t live near the communities they serve? No. Will it build goodwill and better friendships if we show up, shoulder-to-shoulder, to be part of the solution? Absolutely. And will it be beneficial to the whole community when families have stable homes? Every study, every story, and every Rotarian instinct says yes.
And here’s the surprising part, if you’ve never done it: service like this gives hope to the giver, too. A build day doesn’t just raise walls, it lowers the invisible barriers between “us” and “them.” You realize pretty quickly that the community isn’t something we talk about. It’s something we practice.
Do you want to join us?
If you’ve ever wanted to wear a hardhat while asking, “So… which end of the hammer is the business end?” Good news: Habitat Wake explicitly says no experience is required, and they have volunteer roles from construction to ReStore to advocacy. And if construction isn’t your thing, the ReStore might be: where you can “save the planet” and find a chair you didn’t know you needed until you saw it. (It’s a very specific kind of joy.)
And if you’re reading this thinking, “Okay, but I want consistent service and great people and a reason to stay hopeful,” that’s basically the Rotary brochure—minus the fine print. Come join our club. Bring your curiosity. Bring a friend. We’ll bring the fellowship, the projects, and plenty of chances to partner with leaders like Patricia Burch and organizations like Habitat Wake because the work is real, and so is the hope.
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