A welcoming respite for your family during a challenging time.

Located just blocks away from the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Project New Life creates and maintains welcoming living spaces for families with children who are experiencing significant medical challenges and are being treated at the University of Virginia. 

One House. Two Homes.

Questions

  • You are eligible to be a House on the Corner guest if you:

    • Are a pediatric patient in active treatment (at least 1 appointment / week) or are an integral support person for the patient.

    • Live more than 40 miles from the treatment facility.

    • Have a permanent home to return to after your stay.

    • Are not moving to Charlottesville permanently.

    • Have never been convicted of a violent or property crime.

    • Have not been convicted of a drug or alcohol offense in the last five years.

  • Follow the links above to complete your online application.

    For every potential guest over the age of 18, The House on the Corner completes a criminal background check and also requires a professional reference be given.

  • A professional reference is required for every adult guest 18 years or older. The reference check is a phone call; a letter of recommendation is not required.

    We prefer to contact an employer, co-worker, former employer, former co-worker, or a member of the clergy. If you have worked with a Social Worker for more than 1 month, s/he can be used as well. Friends, relatives and neighbors are not appropriate references.

    We will call your reference up to three times. If we have not been able to reach your reference after the third attempt, we will ask you have your reference call us directly, or you can provide a new reference.

  • One of the house owners will call you to verify your application has been received.


    We contact you to reconfirm your need for housing after calling your reference check(s) and background check(s) are complete and cleared.
You check into the House on the Corner!

  • We do ask you your follow some rules during your stay:

    • We require all patients staying in a host home to be accompanied by another guest.

    • Our program cannot accommodate pets.

    • No weapons or guns are allowed on the premises.

    • Guests must maintain a permanent residence other than the apartment provided by the non-profit Project New Life. The House on the Corner offers temporary quarters for single families for the sole purpose of assisting them while their child is undergoing medical treatment at the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital.

About Us

During long tenures as board members and now cheerleaders of UVA Children’s Hospital, Kelley MacDougall and Natasha Lawler saw first-hand the growing needs of out-of-town families seeking care for their children in our town. As the hospital has gotten better and better at complex cases, families are coming from further and further away for longer and longer stays. 

Unable to meet the demand of single family dwelling places made even more pronounced by Covid, Kelley and Natasha formed a very small, self-funded, non-profit called Project New Life to purchase and remodel a duplex a few blocks from the hospital for out-of-town families to stay in whole their kids are being treated at UVA Children’s. Thanks to Mike Ball and Element Construction and other generous donations of time and resources, the House on the Corner has hosted over a dozen families since January of 2022.