Written By: John E. Ross
Published by: Country Zest & Style from Country ZEST & Style Winter 2026 Edition
Windy Hill is well known for providing safe, affordable, attractive housing. Yet, in addition, the Middleburg based foundation provides a variety of vital social services: health and nutrition, financial, educational, and active community engagement. Seldom included as components of other affordable housing initiatives, WHF’s service programs encourage residents to thrive.
Residential services are coordinated by Michelle Lacaze. With more than 16 years of experience managing social services, first at government agencies with non-profit organizations, she bridges the often-challenging chasm between legal policy and human needs.
In weeks before Christmas, Lacaze arranged a meeting with four Windy Hill residents who are taking advantage of the programs she coordinates.
For Stephanie, with her son who has lived in Llewellyn Village for six years, helping others drives her quest for the formal education required to become a registered nurse and perhaps one day, a dental hygienist. In November, 2024, she received the Horizon Scholarship from WHF to attend Moon River Nursing Careers in Ashburn where she earned her license as a certified nursing assistant. She also works as a personal care assistant at Morningside House in Leesburg and said she simply loves working with people.
“Every time I’m with them it brings a smile to my face,” she said, adding that being at Windy Hill “helped me a lot. When I decided to go get my license, I couldn’t do it myself and I don’t like to go ask. The way this beautiful lady, right there (she gestured toward Lacaze) made me feel, I am so thankful for her. It’s OK to go ask for something, nobody is going to judge you.” Stephanie’s Horizon Scholarship is one of more than a score awarded to residents since the program was started in 2017.
Up the hill in Levis House, Michelle introduced the writer to Jenny, one of many residents who benefit from WHF’s financial services. Short, elderly, and favoring her left arm, she’s been a resident since 2015. She grew up in Boston area and rode side-saddle on her own horse. She graduated from Skidmore College in Saratoga, N.Y., renowned for its equestrienne teams.
As a professional jockey, she raced at Suffolk Downs, Rockingham Park, Massachusetts and other east coast tracks. Then came that afternoon at Delaware park near Wilmington, when, galloping neck and neck against a jockey on another “green” horse, her inexperienced mount “ducked out from under me and I fell on my shoulder and broke it. I was too old to be doing that anyway,” she said with a smile.
Jenny moved to the Middleburg area in 1978 for its fox-chasing. Ruefully, she admitted that over the years, “I got taken advantage a lot.” Windy Hill has helped her stabilize her finances.
For Samone, one of Jenny’s neighbors, moving to Levis Hill was “divine intervention.” She described herself as the quintessential “DMV girl.” Her career arcs from working at the Goddard Space Flight Center in high school, through service as a senior administrative assistant at a number of federal agencies, to working as an independent contractor with Martin Marietta.
“I’ve grown up in a hustle and bustle the majority of life. Living her reminds me of staying with my grandparents,” she said. They had a farm where Samone enjoyed “the quiet, the slow moving pace of things.” From the window of her living room at Windy Hill, she can watch deer grazing on the lawn.
Counterbalancing her quest for tranquility is a wide range of activities – bus trips for shopping and field trips to Oak Spring Farm and events a Buchanan Hall. Samone likes to cook and particularly enjoys community dinners. Several times a year, Michelle polls residents to discover activities they’d like.
Esther has devoted much of her professional life to her community. After high school, she joined the fire department to be a career firefighter and paramedic. Though she loved the work, after 16 years she gave it up when she became a mother. She’s now a member of the office staff with the Fairfax Fire Department. Committed to giving back, she began attending meetings of The Plains Town Council, “just so I could keep aware of what’s going on” In 2022, she was appointed to the town’s planning commission.
There’s no doubt about it. Michelle Lacaze personifies the vitality of Windy Hills’ Resident Services programs. Working with her are two resident service coordinators, Antonio Martin and Madison Filson. With an annual budget of $300,000 raised from individual contributions and grants, the trio collaborates with a broad list of civic organizations to ensure that residents of Windy Hill do, indeed thrive.
