I think the valley Mission is a very good organization. All the staff are very nice. The bad thing is a lot of FAVORITISM GOES ON IN THE PLACE. THERE WAS A FEMALE RESIDENT AND A MALE WORKING THAT TALKED ABOUT ANOTHER FEMALE RESIDENT LIKE SHE WAS SO TERRIBLE WHEN THEY HAD NO IDEA WHAT ALL THE OTHER FEMALE RESIDENT ACTUALLY DID. SOME STUFF KNEW WHAT SHE DID CAUSE SHE Was tore the hell up one night and the staff that was working that night just kept telling her she needed to go to sleep. It wasn't right. If it would have been any.other resident they would have drug tested them searched there belongings and make them leave. No one resident should have been treated any different from one another.IT SHOULD BE THE SAME RULE FOR ALL
I want to write not just about the homeless folks who live there. I also want to write about the angels who work there. The so called miracles that touch the human spirit. Beverly,the Chaplain is a special angel. In the face of adversity and challenges we all face in our lives from time to time.Beverly knows how to open minds and hearts to God. She can definitely make the blind see,the blind as in showing folks the way to better lives. Folks seeing light at the end of the tunnel and strenghtens the rope for folks just hanging on a string. My wife Wendy works there and was having lunch with her. She is also an angel. I can see deeply in her soul when it comes to the mission and what she wants to accomplish.The smile she gives and the respect for the folks that happen to be down on their luck. Heather is another angel who works well with the families and happened to come to Wendy's office to look for a few books to entertain 2 children. She could have grabbed any book. She searched and searched through the pile for something that she felt in her heart that the children would enjoy. There are many other angels within the mission who work together to bring light into the mission. I see the smiles of the folks living there for they can see and feel hope. Warm clean beds,good meals and clean facilities. Through our busy lives we run past the homeless. Some we can see who are begging in the street and some we dont see who are living under a bridge or in a alley way. Everyday people just like you and me who dont have anywhere to go. The homeless dont have any particular face. There are some people who throw scraps from their tables and treat them like animals. Some give dirty clothes so they can feel that they atleast gave something. At Valley Mission everyone is treated with human dignity. Donations are checked to make sure of wholesomeness. At Valley Mission donations are crucial. Some are sold in the thrift stores to help with operations and many items are given to those living there in need. At Valley Missions people dont feel like they are low on the totem pole. Everyone living there are treated well and with dignity.
Our work group prepared and served lunch at the Valley Mission in late October. We served between 30 and 40 people. We were impressed by the clean and orderly appearance of the center including the kitchen and all other facilities. The Valley Mission provides a safe, clean and warm enviornment for those in need. They also provide support in many ways to assist residents in becoming self-sufficient.
I have served food at the Valley Mission. I love that they provide housing and laundry, divide up chores for the residents there, encourage the residents to seek employment, and provide needed services for them.
I thoroughly enjoyed serving lunch at the Mission and would gladly do this again. The Mission is very well run and the staff are dedicated, compassionate and loving. The Mission provides a vital service for this community and deserves our full support.
I came with the Fort Defiance High School Family, Career, and Consumer Sciences Department (FCCLA). It was a great experience and was very rewarding. The reactions of the people that we served gave me great success. As a student, the Valley Mission is a wonderful place for us to see a direct impact on our efforts.
We've been volunteering here weekly for about two years and have always been treated well. They appreciate our effort, even allowing our children to work with us. They are open to ideas of how to do things better and are willing to try new things that will help their residents.
I've had the pleasure of working with Valley Mission in two different ways. We have been reuglar contributors to the Mission store and have always found the staff to be friendly, apporachable and efficient. More immportantly, I have asked the Director of the Valley mission over the past six years to come and talk to college students about the Mission and her own experiences and activities and she has been articulate and passionate, and her own commitment to mission has been evident to the studeents. Moreover, I have placed a number of college students in Vally Mission over the past few years, and they have always had fulfilling experiences working with the residents, the staff, and other volunteers. In short, I only have words of unqualified praise for the work of Valley Mission in this community.
I spent a week last summer doing volunteer work as part of a summer class project designed to help students learn mre about their communities. As a longtime resident of the Staunton area, I have shopped frequently at the Mission's (excellent) thrift store, known people who have stayed at the Mission for varying lengths of time and served many meals during there while helping with church youth groups. I was delighted to have the opportunity to actually spend a fairly prolonged period of time (about 12 hours, over the course of two weeks)inside the Mission. I was impressed by the professionalism with which the shop is managed: It's a big undertaking. I was also delighted by the friendliness and genuine caring siaplayed by Mission employees toward their clientele.
Early in December, my husband, daughter, and I shared a 30 minute musical program with the residents of the Valley Mission as a kick-off to their "12 Days of Christmas" celebration. Although we were familiar with the work of the Valley Mission and have assisted in small ways previously via our church, this was our first real experience as a family to share our gifts in an intimate setting at the mission. We were thrilled at not only the number of persons that attended the program but also at the level of involvement of the residents. They joined in to sing Christmas carols and songs and were so enthusiastic. The chaplain, Beverly Johnson, had arranged for us to be there and it was obvious that she is a key role in providing additional programs as well as encouraging the residents to participate in them. The day that we were scheduled to be at Valley Mission was the same day that my husband was laid off from his job. In the midst of our own discouraging news, our hearts were uplifted by the spirit and joy we saw at the Valley Mission. We truly applaud the work of the Valley Mission. Not only are they meeting physical needs of food and shelter for those that need it, but they are providing emotional and spiritual support to their residents and creating an environment of hope and faith that goes beyond their circumstances. We eagerly look forward to serving at the Valley Mission in the future.
the Valley Mission is a vital piece of this community's aid to the underprivaledged. My experience has been first rate with any of the volunteers and/or employees. They are great to work with.
I feel that this is an important organization for my community and one that deserves the highest praise for the work being done there.
I take a group of four to six consumers from Western State Hospital to Valley Mission every other week for a work experience opportunity. It has been rewarding to see the difference that our time can make in improving the appearance of the store. It has also enabled my co-leader and I to see who in our group has strong initiative and who will need a more predictable job in the community. All the Valley Mission staff has been very supportive and appreciative of our help.
A call by Valley Mission for volunteers to paint residents' rooms excited me: this is just the thing I can do to help, I knew. My initial contact with the Volunteer Coordinator was so pleasant that I decided to make a rather long-term commitment to redecorate several of the residents' living spaces. The staff of the Mission are welcoming, helpful, professional, knowledgeable, and smiling at all times... just what you'd want to find at a shelter for homeless people. The Mission was clean, bright, well-run and being well-used. Some people might expect a derelict, drab and perhaps scary place, but that expectation is far off the mark for the Valley Mission. Our community is well served by the Mission... if only it could be expanded to serve even more of my community neighbors. I am very pleased to have contributed something small and I hope to continue in whatever ways the Mission staff would like. Now that I have connected, I will continue at the Valley Mission.
The nTelos Wireless Accounting department used the opportunity of a team building to prepare and serve lunch to those at Valley Mission. We were very surprised by the hospitality, friendliness and appreciation given by those we were priviledged to serve. We were very impressed by the facilities and the heart of those working at Valley Mission.
I had a great experience at Valley Missions! It is a wonderful organization and it does a lot for the community. I felt like I really made a difference when I was volunteering in the food pantry and kitchen. I felt that the volunteer coordinator did a great job of organizing volunteers and helping them have a better understand of the organization's values and missions.