{"id":137956,"date":"2026-01-30T18:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T18:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/137956\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T18:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T18:42:09","slug":"valeries-house-marks-major-milestone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/137956\/","title":{"rendered":"Valerie\u2019s House marks major milestone"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Valerie\u2019s House, an organization dedicated to helping area youths find their voice when experiencing the loss of a loved one, has hit its officials 10-year anniversary.<\/p>\n

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Angela Melvin Churchill, Valerie\u2019s House Founder and CEO <\/p>\n

Megan DiPiero<\/p>\n

Megan DiPiero.com<\/p>\n

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A personal experience is threaded into the fabric of an organization dedicated to helping area youths find their voice when experiencing the loss of a loved one.<\/p>\n

Valerie\u2019s House has hit its officials 10-year anniversary. Its concept, though, has its roots in the childhood of its founder.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was younger, I didn\u2019t have a voice,\u201d Valerie\u2019s House Founder and CEO Angela Melvin Churchill said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know my voice when it came to feelings around my mom, so I didn\u2019t say much because I didn\u2019t have that voice. I had pain, confusion, sadness and loneliness and all the colors of emotions that we hang.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worry was another emotion that weighed heavy, as she worried that her dad might die, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s grief is so different and that is the beautiful thing about a group setting. They have this thing in common \u2014 they are still there for each other,\u201d Melvin Churchill said.<\/p>\n

The vision to begin Valerie\u2019s House stems back 15 years when she was living in West Palm Beach, working as a reporter at a local television station. One of her friends, the few that knew her mother died, as she was very private, encouraged her to volunteer for Hearts and Hope, a nonprofit organization that opened as a place for kids to go when they experienced a loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave the nonprofit a call and scheduled some time with the director and went on a tour. I bawled and cried and held on to a teddy bear. I was 32 at the time and was really moved by the concept,\u201d Melvin Churchill said, adding that she kept in touch with the director. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Four or five years later she reached out to learn about the organization. Hearts and Hope closed its doors because of the recession.<\/p>\n

The experience, as well as a 2003 memory, continued to plant seeds. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Melvin Churchill volunteered at a grief camp through Hospice in Tennessee where she was living.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the first time I had ever worked with, or even met, grieving children before. As a camp counselor, I had more in common with kids that were 10, 15 years younger than me than I had with anyone else,\u201d she said. \u201cI still talk to two of the girls I mentored 22 years later.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2013, she moved back to Fort Myers and began working with Big Brothers and Big Sisters. She requested to mentor a little girl who lost her mom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t have a lot of their children on that list,\u201d Melvin Churchill said. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t a category for grief. Where are those kids getting support \u2014 there are a lot in the community \u2014 I believed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was on to something because she had met kids and families that had lost people. The question, \u201cIf I start something like this, are you going to come,\u201d was met with \u201cCould you make this happen yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents were coming to Valerie\u2019s House with a sense of hopelessness and fear because they were afraid where their children were headed in life after a deep traumatic loss at a young age.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the most unimaginable things, to lose a spouse right in the middle of raising your kids together. It\u2019s a lonely path and everything changes,\u201d she said. \u201cWe hope they find a sense of community. I see a lot of gratitude. Kids come through and stay with us. It\u2019s not court ordered. They are coming because they want to. That is a beautiful thing, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2016, Valerie\u2019s House began with 20 kids in an old historic home that someone who heard her speak offered at no cost.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to two years ago, Valerie\u2019s House moved into their forever home. They have already outgrown the 7,000-square-foot home. The organization has anywhere from 50 to 60 different families every night, 400 to 500 kids and parents per month.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the land is big enough for expansion.<\/p>\n

The organization is now in its 10th\u00a0year, which means a multitude of things to the founder.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means that we filled a void in the community. That there was nothing like this until Valerie\u2019s House on an ongoing basis for children grieving,\u201d she said. \u201cThere were some little pockets of support, but nothing at this level \u2014 that we were really meeting grieving families, especially children where they needed us.\u201d<\/p>\n

That approach \u2014 a friend to a friend, peer to peer, family to family, instead of diagnosing grief, or calling it something that needed to be fixed or required counseling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something completely different,\u201d Melvin Churchill said of meeting them where they were in their grief and acknowledging and supporting them while giving them a voice. \u201cWe have a therapeutic approach \u2014 the groups are not therapy \u2013 it\u2019s a community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valerie\u2019s House offers a vast array of layers ranging from inviting the child and parent to a group, so they can meet others and have support on a regular basis, to doing many different forms of activities, such as music and art therapy. There are also parenting classes offered to help parents through their grief.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly with their grief we are breaking them out of their shell. They are hardened and don\u2019t trust a lot of people with their emotions. We are cracking the nutshell a little bit, so they can see it is OK to talk about what they are feeling and are going to feel better if they find a support system,\u201d Melvin Churchill said.<\/p>\n

Recently they started a phase two \u2014 after three years of coming to Valerie\u2019s House, children are moved into Growing Into Grief, which offers a different dynamic. There is also a young adult program for college kids. Valerie\u2019s House also travels to 30 different school groups to meet for an hour with children who are identified through their school counselor.<\/p>\n

She said you can do this for decades and still not have the answers to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to listen to them and they will tell you what they need,\u201d Melvin Churchill said. \u201cThat is the most important part \u2013 holding space for someone grieving. You are able to say I am not the expert in their grief. They are. You walk with them through it and hold their hand, hug them, hold them up sometimes. You laugh with them. Cry with them. You celebrate their wins and they do that for each other too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The anniversary also means Valerie\u2019s House will be here well beyond Melvin Churchill\u2019s lifetime because the foundation is there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really believe we are here to stay,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The land was donated for their forever home and money was raised so they do not have a mortgage or debt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are part of the solution,\u201d Melvin Churchill said of Valerie\u2019s House helping the root cause \u2013 helping children understand their grief and provide help, so they do not become a burden later.<\/p>\n

Now a decade later, the founder is no longer doing it alone, as she has a beautiful, special, talented, dedicated giving team around her. Melvin Churchill said her staff are people who have gone through the program, to former teachers and counselors, therapists, and social work inters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of work \u2013 a lot of emotion. It\u2019s heavy,\u201d Melvin Churchill said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I could have prepared myself for that \u2013 how much grief of what is really out there. How much pain and suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said as the founder, and losing her mother at the age of 10 to an automobile accident, gives her the opportunity to connect deeply with families.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see myself in so many of them,\u201d Melvin Churchill said.<\/p>\n

The organization is celebrating its 10 years in a multitude of ways.<\/p>\n

They are continuing to grow their intern program, while keeping their relationship strong with Florida Gulf Coast University\u2019s mental health and social work studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have two therapists on the team that can provide that supervision. We are helping to grow the number of mental health counselors in the community. We are training up that next generation. Training them in grief,\u201d Melvin Churchill said. \u201cThey are able to learn about grief and our approach. We don\u2019t think you go through four or five stages \u2013 it\u2019s a continuous path of all kinds of ups and downs, waves of grief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their forever home will also be expanded through the addition of more rooms to accommodate additional groups and kids.<\/p>\n

In June, Melvin Churchill will travel to San Antonio for the National Alliance for Children\u2019s Grief where she will speak. This is the fourth year Valerie\u2019s House will present.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have become a leader,\u201d she said, adding that they still have a lot to learn. \u201cWe have a lot to share too about what we have learned in the last 10 years for new grief centers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valerie\u2019s House also is updating their website and launching an app that will make it easier to access services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are always open to new ways of helping people and continuing to be front and center, so people think about Valerie\u2019s House and the courage to come and see what we are about,\u201d Melvin Churchill said.<\/p>\n

She said they also want to host a national children\u2019s bereavement symposium in Fort Myers and bring all kinds of experts in the field to the area.<\/p>\n

For more information, visit\u00a0www.valerieshouse.org<\/a><\/p>\n


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