Miriams House
The Miracle on Magnolia Street

Miriams House is designed to end the cycle of homelessness for Lynchburg’s single women and women with children. It is the miracle on Magnolia Street, at least for eleven women and their 29 children, which just happens to be the current resident capacity of Miriam’s House.

For a variety of reasons, these women became part of the homeless statistics in Lynchburg and life suddenly took a nasty turn; no home, hungry children, no job and in some cases, an abusive spouse looking for them.

But hope springs eternal and something happened to give these women the hope they needed to believe in the possibility of a real future. What happened was that they found Miriam’s House.

They met the qualifications for residency, moved in and gained time. It takes time to put a life back together and Miriams House is what it gives them; that and much more.

Miriams House is not a home or a shelter; it is a way station, a transitional facility to bridge women from the state of hopeless dependency to a life of independent self-sufficiency.

Gaining Residency

It is not possible to just drop into Miriams House, get a room, unpack your bags and settle in. For starters, the facility is very capacity limited. Eleven units are all there is, at least for now, and there is a waiting list of 35 women hoping to get in.

More to the point, Miriams House is not an emergency shelter. A woman who hopes to find refuge must first be an applicant, meaning they must be referred by a human services organization and meet the federal definition of homeless and not exceed the federal income restrictions.

How the Government Defines Homeless

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) cites the United States Code, Title 42, Chapter 119, Subchapter 1 for its definition of homeless. A homeless person is one who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.

Furthermore, a homeless person is also one who does have a primary nighttime residence but it is a supervised public or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations. It can also be an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized or a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.

As to income restrictions, they vary from locale to locale but through the magic of the internet we find that in Lynchburg City, State of Virginia, the median income for fiscal year 2011 is $59,300.

Income limits are listed from 1 to 8 persons and segregated into three categories: Low, Very Low and Extremely Low. Taking the middle of the road, a homeless mother with three children to care for is limited to $47,450 at the low level, $29,650 at the very low level and $17,800 at the extremely low level.

This being a creation of the Federal Government, it is not that simple. There are a series of mathematical calculations and comparisons based on the area median income that must be done to determine exactly which limitation applies to a given person or family.

Since the purpose of this page is not to analyze the government mind, we will move on to more important information about Miriam’s House. However if the reader would like to tax their brain on the subject of income limits, please go to:

http://www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/il/il2011/2011summary.odn

and knock yourself out.

Other Requirements

In addition to meeting the definition of “homeless” and passing the income limitation test, admission requires the completion of a Pre-Application form; an interview with Sarah, the Clinical Director; must be substance-free for 30 days prior to admission; must be single females or mothers with children; must be physically and emotionally able and willing to participate in the program.

Miriam's House Program

The program consists of several parts which are required as applicable to the resident’s situation. For starters, each resident has a Life Action Plan which outlines the overall goals the resident needs to achieve while at Miriam’s House leading to the attainment of permanent housing.

Money management skills are taught to residents focusing on budgeting, saving and learning to become financially independent.

Residents cannot lounge around watching TV all day while at Miriam’s House. They are expected to be gainfully employed while a resident and staff and community programs are in place to help develop practical job skills.

Parenting workshops are available for women with children and they are referred to outside parenting organizations as needed. Children are not exempt either. They participate in weekly children’s programs that address healthy like skills.

Residents are required to be alcohol and drug free at all times and those undergoing recovery are required to attend substance abuse services.

Occasionally services for mental health impairments are needed and referrals are made to community professionals as needed.

It is obvious that Miriams House is not just a “check in” and go your merry way facility. Somehow the image of navy or marine boot camp comes to mind.

Directorship

As of one year ago, the directorship of Miriams House has been in the very capable hands of Mary Alex, whom we understand is referred to by her initials, M.A., not to be confused with "ma" as in “mother “ Alex.

Mary Alex, or M.A., is well equipped to handle the job and undoubtedly could tell some great fireside stories if she chose to. Before coming to the fair city of Lynchburg, to save women’s lives and transition them to a quality life, she was active in numerous human rights efforts.

Also prior to relocating to Lynchburg, she was in the Washington DC area managing her own national and international consulting firm which took her to Abuja, Nigeria to work with organizations combating human trafficking and improving the lives of children orphaned by the HIV-AIDS virus.

In addition to the women’s rights work, she brings a host of valuable experience to Miriam’s House including a Masters of Social Work (MSW) from Virginia Commonwealth University, specializing in Clinical Program Planning.

She earned undergraduate degrees in public relations and broadcast journalism which she put to good use in news production at NPR and CBS radio in San Francisco. More recently MA was chosen to represent Lynchburg at the Sorenson Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia, Class of 2011.

The rest of the Miriams House Staff is exceptionally qualified to meet the challenges brought to their front door. Go ahead and meet the staff; including Sarah, Allison, Delores and Denise. They are a great team doing great things. Through their efforts, Miriams House is staffed 24 hours a day every day of the year.

The Facilities

Residents have private bedrooms and share bathrooms. Two spacious kitchens, the dining area and the TV lounge are common areas. One of the eleven units is handicapped accessible.

The backyard of the House is equipped with an excellent selection of playground equipment with ample room to run and let kids be kids.

The collection of bicycles and kiddie cars neatly lined up on the back porch is testament that kids are welcome here.

History of Miriams House

The history of Miriam’s House is a case study of local people who cared and took action. Two names stand tall; Elizabeth Forsyth and the Rev. Beverly Cosby, a quiet, modest, giant in Lynchburg’s spiritual community.

The “Elizabeth” in Elizabeth’s Early Learning Center adjacent to and behind Miriam’s House is Elizabeth Forsyth. Mrs. Forsyth was a Lynchburg native with a long history of service to the community.

She was a past president of the Junior League of Lynchburg. In 1991, she recognized the need for an interim facility that would serve homeless women and children. Inspired and assisted by Beverly Cosby and the Lynchburg Covenant Fellowship, she helped build Miriam’s House.

Rev. Cosby was the founder of Camp Kum-Ba-Yah, and co-founder of Church of the Covenant, both on Boonsboro Road. He passed away on January 21, 2002 but his memory lives on in the many Lynchburg Covenant Fellowship ministries he founded over the years.

Together they broke ground for Miriams House in 1991 and opened its doors to the first residents in 1994.

Donations and Volunteering

Miriam’s House has its regular and reliable funding sources from government agencies, education and community foundations and trusts, corporate foundations and religious and charitable groups but it is never enough.

As great as the donors hearts are, the needs are always greater. Private donations of money, material goods and consumables are always welcome as is volunteered labor and special skills. Donated time is a valuable commodity.

So if your heart is moved to help Miriam’s House in any way you can, get in touch with Mary Alex or one of her staff at (434) 847-1101. They will welcome your call.

Custom Search