University of Richmond Donates Modular Units To Benefit the Homeless and Survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND ─ As part of its response to COVID-19, the University of Richmond purchased five doublewide and 20 single modular units for isolation and quarantine of residential students.

With vaccination rates continually increasing on campus ahead of the start of the fall semester, the University no longer requires all of the units to support fall semester operations and arranged to donate the five doublewide units to Family Crisis Support Services in Norton, Virginia.

FCSS provides emergency shelter and transitional residential housing to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and also offers emergency shelter for victims of homelessness. It operates in the counties of Wise, Dickenson, and Lee, as well as the City of Norton, in the southwestern portion of Virginia.

“The University of Richmond is providing me with an opportunity to keep families together,” said Marybeth Matthews-Adkins, executive director of FCSS. “It is an absolute blessing in a season full of barriers.”

The donation comes at a crucial time for FCSS as its current building has significant structural and foundation issues. “The timing of this donation is phenomenal, as preventing gaps in service for those we serve is our utmost priority.” she added.

“We were fortunate that we did not have a strong need for the modular units during the previous academic year,” said Paul Lozo, director of environment operations, who oversaw the arrival of the units to campus. “We wanted to help the greater community. It’s nice to see something positive come from the many challenges of the pandemic.” 

The University is keeping 20 singular modular units that can continue to serve students for isolation and quarantine purposes for the 2021-22 academic year, in case needed.

“We’ll need to see how COVID-19 plays out this fall and spring,” Lozo said.

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