“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” — Matthew 25:40
Mark McHugh was walking down the street one chilly day about a year ago when he ran into a childhood friend who graduated with him in 2008 at Centralia High School.
Sensing that his old classmate was not doing well, McHugh asked where he was living now. The man pointed to the cement below him.
“He said, right there,” McHugh recalls about this man, who he remembers as “just a sweetheart of a kid” who endured a lot of trauma by the time he got to high school.
McHugh, pastor of Harrison Square Presbyterian Church, is part of a group that aims to create a warm, dry place for people like his old high school friend who have no homes and precious little hope.
They call it Shalom Village, and it’s rising piece by piece on his Centralia church’s property a half mile west of Interstate 5.
Shalom Village will have six tiny-home duplexes that will provide transitional housing for a total of 12 people. Each guest will have their own individual room with desk, bed, nightstand, window and exterior door that locks.
There’s also a community building with a kitchen, office, meeting room and laundry facilities. It will close at night, but has bathroom/showers with exterior doors that residents can open with a code to use at any time.
The village’s boundaries will be fenced and landscaped. They’ll have a community garden.
Work continues on their buildings and the grounds. The church and community volunteers hope to be finished and have people moving into Shalom Village by the fall of 2026.
“Basically everybody we've asked has helped in some way,” Wilson said. “And whenever I start running out of volunteers, somebody new shows up, and that's great.”
The church’s site has advantages for people trying to rebuild their lives. It’s close to bus routes, grocery stores and jobs. They also don’t have to worry about upsetting people next door, since Shalom Village’s biggest neighbor is Mountain View Cemetery.
“All our neighbors are dead,” project manager Beth Wilson jokes. But even so, they’ve been in close contact with the businesses nearby — and even the new owners of the cemetery. Once people understood how the project is going to work, there was a lot of support.
“That was encouraging to see people buy into the model and say, ‘Yeah, that's something I could get on board with,’” McHugh said.
The project has been in the works for several years as a number of churches and community members got together and talked to the city about ways they could help alleviate the housing and homelessness crisis for people living on the street, on couches or in cars.
This particular project will be open only to single people (both male and female).
No couples, at least initially, or children.
While housing for families is a crucial need, it was beyond the scope of what this project could achieve as it opens.
“This won’t be the total answer to unhoused populations,” said volunteer Sharon Miracle. “It’s one piece of it.”
Every guest will have to pass a criminal background check and will need to sign a code of conduct that they will be safe, sober and drug-free. Because this church-run volunteer project is not taking any state or federal money, they have more flexibility to set up these kinds of requirements. Their code of conduct has clear policies and steps if people fall off the wagon — gracious but firm.
Church attendance won’t be required, but there will be connections and spiritual nurturing opportunities that arise, organizers say.
“The inspiration for this has been community, people, churches who feel like this is work that God calls us to in the world,” McHugh said, citing the 25th chapter of the gospel of Matthew about helping “the least of these” and by so doing, helping Jesus himself.
“It’s something that people in our community have bought into, regardless of backgrounds and beliefs,” McHugh said. “They really see the need for that kind of coming together around a project like this and supporting the most vulnerable, the least of these in our community.”
McHugh can’t wait until their little village is finished and can be a gift to Jesus — and to people like his old high school friend.
“To imagine somebody like that having a space that's warm and a door that locks where they can get back on their feet. It's a tremendous gift that I think we can offer our community.”
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Next week: More on Shalom Village.
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Brian Mittge is a community enthusiast who has written for The Chronicle since 2000 as a reporter, editor and columnist. He can be reached at brianmittge@hotmail.com.
About Shalom Village
Learn more and donate to Shalom Village through the Hope Housing Collaborative of Lewis County at www.hopehousinglc.com, email to hopehousinglc@gmail.com or (360) 669-5050.
