In downtown Staunton, residents from Valley Supportive Housing have formed a small community around giving back. WMRA’s Omega Ilijevich reports.
On the third Thursday of every month, Latanya Nicholson and her fellow volunteers cook up hearty free lunches in Staunton’s Trinity Episcopal Church. This past week, more than 30 visitors grabbed trays of lasagna, vegetables and fruit cocktail.
LATANYA NICHOLSON: I see a lot of friends coming through here. Serving the people, I don’t mind doing that. I’ll do anything to help anybody.
Nicholson has been renting an affordable apartment from Valley Supportive Housing, or VSH, for about three years. Founded in 2005, the local nonprofit leases 68 permanent housing units in the Staunton area to individuals facing housing instability due to mental illness. For $550 a month, the apartments promise safe, clean living with utilities and repairs included – a unique resource in a town that faces aging housing stock and increased costs of living.
Executive Director Lou Siegel says that when VSH residents sign their lease, they also sign an informal community agreement.
LOU SIEGEL: People will be living to the left of you, to the right of you. We wanted to introduce the idea that you consider you might have an obligation to basically be a good citizen. To work with folks that live near our complex.
To further promote this sense of community connectivity, Siegel partnered with Trinity Episcopal in 2025, creating monthly volunteer shifts for a small group of VSH residents such as Nicholson. The downtown church offers daily free lunches, supported by a rotation of community groups. More than a year into the program, Siegel says he’s seen positive effects on the volunteers.
SIEGEL: It’s particularly interesting to see the folks in the kitchen working together. They’re less transactional. Doing something for the sake of doing a good thing, that’s what they’re doing.
According to Siegel, the group is more willing to take on other opportunities, like making sandwiches for a local food pantry or reaching out to fellow tenants. They’re also more connected to one another. Nicholson and two other regular volunteers plan group dinners and annual beach trips.
NICHOLSON: I’ve gotten closer to Lou. Tina and Mark and the people that come through here, I know most of them. Everyone hollers “Granny!” Everyone knows me.
Siegel plans to offer more volunteer opportunities for VSH residents in the future.
