Tim Bernitt - Wichita, Kansas
May 7, 2007

The Wichita Church of Christ sponsored the 8th annual “Paint Wichita” community service program May 5th & 6th, 2007. “Paint Wichita” is an annual event of the church in which we have painted the exteriors of over 65 homes of elderly and low income persons in the last 8 years. The last 7 years, we have focused on persons outside of the church so as to teach ourselves to serve those in the community we do not personally know. The goal is that when people have their homes painted, hope and pride in their neighborhood is restored. In the past 7 years we have had great success in impacting the community through our “Paint Wichita.”

This year, however, we decided to focus all our efforts on one of the single mothers in the church, Charissa Hicks. Charissa was married in the church here in Wichita but a few years ago her husband left God, the church and her with two small boys to raise and a house over 100 years old to take care of. Needless to say, there have been many unmet needs in both the house and the yard. So the leadership of the Wichita Church of Christ decided that we would focus on Charissa’s house as our special “Paint Wichita” project this year.

It was exciting as over 60 volunteers gathered over the weekend to paint, pick-up refuse, pull-up carpet, clean, build fence, replace the front door and repair numerous projects around the house. Brothers and sisters were everywhere both inside and outside of the house working on making it a better home for Charissa to live in. Even the teens and preteens pitched in and worked hard, helping to load refuse on the flatbed trailer and painting the garage. What a great success “Paint Wichita” was as every room in Charissa’s home received a face-lift. And although we were rained out on Sunday, the outside trim of her home will get finished soon. It is all prepped and only needs a coat of paint.

We plan to hold another weekend work day later in the summer with the goal of refinishing all the floors in the house, fixing the stairs and repairing the bathrooms. Please be praying for contractor help, corporate donations and good weather so that all that we planned to do to help Charissa and her boys can be accomplished through the power of God and the service of the brotherhood of disciples! It is encouraging that our service project this year is helping out one of our own sisters. And to God be the glory.