About Us

February 20,2022 Samantha Robbins died at 34 of kidney failure, homeless. She left behind her mother, sister, and two sons. She was a mixed bag,  she was goofy, and sweet, and acted like a kid for most of her life when she wasn’t putting on a front that she wasn’t scared, even if she was. She was kind, thoughtful, silly, annoying, loving, and was willing to give more than she had. 

She moved to Lynchburg, VA in 2020. Due to issues with mental health and prior drug use, staying with family was not an option, making stable housing a top priority. As her sister, I took on the task of searching for services. The clock was ticking as her kidneys were failing, and each missed dialysis appointment meant another hospital stay. Using Google and Social Media, as well as working with her social workers, we attempted to find services, but between the wait times, wait lists, and unanswered phone calls, we failed. After missing one too many dialysis appointments, she died,  just 9 days shy from her move-in date for stable affordable housing. 

In April 2022, I was walking into a local grocery store as I passed a small table of individuals raising funds for a non-profit. After learning more about them, I discovered that their services would have made a significant impact in my sister’s life, potentially saving it. I remember walking away from that interaction wishing I had known about them sooner. As I lamented the loss of my sister and my failure in finding her help, I kept thinking about that one non-profit. What if there was a place that I could go, or call, that knew about all the services in the area? What if this place could help individuals navigate services, connecting them to ones that they qualified for and met their needs? What if there was a safe place to cross from instability to a place of stability? 

Flashback to July 2021 and an event called Burn the Stigma. 

Enter Elizabeth Nicely, a woman with a passion for mental health and bringing together local resources to help the community. Her drive and desire to help connect services to each other in hopes to better assist the community at large lead her to partner on a project born out of the death of my beloved sister. 

A year later, in July 2022, Elizabeth and I started Crosswalk Community Consultants. The mission, connecting the dots for all the resources servicing the Lynchburg, VA area. The goal, consistently standing in the gap so that people like my sister don’t fall through the cracks.