A few years ago, our Junior Designer Patricia Meyers found a children's shelter in Assis, Brazil that had been neglected for years.

Bathrooms had no working doors. Paint was peeling from the walls. The kitchen didn't have appliances. Storage rooms were filled with things no one used anymore. Patricia knew right away she couldn't simply walk past it. So she did what she does best. She imagined what the space could be.

With permission from the mayor's office and help from the Wellhouse team, plans began to take shape. We mapped out furniture layouts, selected paint colors, and thought through how these spaces could better serve the children who relied on them. Patricia traveled back to Brazil to oversee the transformation herself alongside the Open Arms staff and a team of volunteers.

Slowly, the shelter began to feel different. Clean tile replaced neglected surfaces. Cheerful color covered worn walls. Spaces became functional again. And what had once felt forgotten became somewhere a child could actually feel comfortable coming home to.

That work has never really stopped.

Design That Restores Looks Different Everywhere

At Wellhouse & Co, we talk often about Design That Restores. Most days, that happens inside our clients' homes. It might mean choosing the right marble for a kitchen island, designing built-in storage around the way a family actually lives, or creating a family room that gives everyone a comfortable place to gather at the end of the day. But sometimes restoration looks a little different.

This spring, Kim traveled to Brazil to work on Open Arms' new headquarters. There were ladders, trowels, walls that needed skim coating, paint, and plenty of hands-on work alongside volunteers. There wasn't anything particularly glamorous about it. But that's part of what made it such a meaningful reminder of why we do what we do. The tools may change, but the goal doesn't.

Whether we're creating a beautiful home here in the DC area or helping restore a building thousands of miles away, thoughtful spaces have the ability to help the people inside them flourish.

*Plastering the walls of Open Arms new headquarters.*

The Story Behind Open Arms Worldwide

What many people don't know is that Patricia and her husband, Michael, didn't simply volunteer with a children's shelter in Brazil. They moved there and founded Open Arms Worldwide in 2006. What began with a desire to serve children and families has continued growing for nearly two decades.

Open Arms builds neighborhood kids clubs, trains and equips local leaders, creates safe spaces for children, organizes activities and clinics, and develops long-term relationships within the communities it serves. Open Arms offers life-changing hope to at-risk children and youth in places you may never see and sets children on a path toward a future filled with love, purpose, service, honor, and dignity, guided by the principles of faith and community. Today, that work extends across Brazil and Chile, with expansion into the Dominican Republic on the horizon.

It happens one relationship at a time. One building at a time. One neighborhood at a time. And to us, that's Design That Restores in one of its truest forms.

Celebrating 20 Years of Open Arms

This year marks an incredibly special milestone. Open Arms Worldwide is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and we are honored to help Patricia, Michael, and the entire Open Arms community celebrate twenty years of serving children and families. Their work is a reminder that restoration isn't always about creating something new.

Sometimes it's about seeing potential in something that has been overlooked.

A building.

A neighborhood.

A community.

A child who deserves somewhere safe to land.

And then being willing to do something about it (Patricia has never been one to sit on the sidelines).

*Open Arms new headquarters; organizing football clinic for the neighborhood kids Open Arms serves year-round.*

Restoration Goes Beyond the Walls of a Home

We believe our surroundings matter. A well-designed home can bring calm to a busy family, create opportunities for connection, make everyday routines easier, and provide somewhere restorative to return to at the end of the day. But those ideas don't stop at our clients' front doors.

A children's center can provide safety.

A neighborhood gathering space can create belonging.

A restored building can become somewhere children learn, play, connect, and know that people care about them.

Beautiful design matters to us.

But ultimately, it's what a space allows the people inside it to do that matters most.

Creating a Culture of Generosity at Home

One of the things Open Arms continues to remind us is that generosity is something we can practice and pass down. And just like design, it's often learned by doing. For families who want to involve their children in giving, it doesn't have to start with something big.

Try:

Letting your children choose a cause they care about and decide where a small donation goes
Giving them a job, like packing a donation box, writing a card, or choosing a toy for another child
Keeping a clear jar somewhere visible and working toward a giving goal together
Talking about the organizations your family supports and showing your children where their contribution goes
Finding opportunities to serve together as a family

Small experiences like these can help generosity become something children participate in rather than something they simply hear about.

Help Us Support Open Arms Worldwide

As Open Arms celebrates its 20th anniversary, we're inviting the Wellhouse community to be part of what comes next. We don't ask our community to give often. But this is a mission we believe in deeply and one we're proud to put the Wellhouse name behind.

Wellhouse & Co. will match every dollar given through our website or community up to $5,000.

We don't ask our community to give often. But this is a mission we believe in deeply and one we're proud to put the Wellhouse name behind. We love designing beautiful homes. And we love it just as much when the walls we're working on don't belong to a client, but to a child who needed somewhere safe to land. t's the same mission we've always believed in.