Westview Centre4Women
Update
The Westview Centre4Women (WC4W) committee members and employees incorporated and launched their own organization in January 2024 and moved to 17 Gale Crescent in March. Although they are no longer affiliated with Westview Christian Fellowship (WCF) they chose to keep the same name, which has led to some confusion. To support this change, we closed our program at WCF.
You can reach the new WC4W organization here:
https://www.westviewcentre4women.ca/
History
Westview Centre4Women (WC4W) was established in 2007 under the name, Women4Women. Fulfilling the vision of Erika Klassen, the group was formed out of a desire to meet the needs of the community. Westview Christian Fellowship (WCF) had recently moved into the neighbourhood and the church was looking for ways to get involved in the community. Inspired by an experience of rummaging through a pile of garage sale clothing, beside a woman from a completely different walk of life, Erika realized that there was much more that made her similar than what made her different from the woman beside her; the search for nice clothes, the common hope for a bargain and most of all, the shared need to be recognized and loved. It was in that moment that Erika felt like she could connect to the community and a simple clothes swap felt like a good option. Quickly the idea snowballed and within the year, over 70 women piled in the basement of Westview to meet Thursday mornings to exchange clothes, drink a cup of coffee, get a haircut and share a meal together. Women4Women was formed.
Right from the start a clear mandate was set- every woman is equal and every woman is encouraged to be herself with no expectations to change. The goal was not to change people, the goal was to love and to build community. Change became a bi-product. New programs were established and by 2011, the group had grown beyond Thursday mornings and a second program was started- Survival4Women. Jane Lavacca, who first came to Women4Women as a community member, began to take leadership of the program and run a weekly Sharing Circle for the women who attended Women4Women, as a way to further develop the relationships they had begun. Workshops, guest speakers and activities became more frequent and the demand from the community grew stronger. One day a week, became two days and eventually became three days. By 2013 Women4Women and Survival4Women had grown beyond the expectations and the need to merge the two groups became evident. Thanks to the support from the community, and a grant from the Niagara Prosperity Initiative, the two groups amalgamated in 2014 and Westview Centre4Women was established.
In January 2024, WC4W committee members and employees incorporated and launched their own organization and moved to 17 Gale Crescent in March. To support this change, WFC closed it's WCFW program.
The Westview Centre4Women (WC4W) committee members and employees incorporated and launched their own organization in January 2024 and moved to 17 Gale Crescent in March. Although they are no longer affiliated with Westview Christian Fellowship (WCF) they chose to keep the same name, which has led to some confusion. To support this change, we closed our program at WCF.
You can reach the new WC4W organization here:
https://www.westviewcentre4women.ca/
History
Westview Centre4Women (WC4W) was established in 2007 under the name, Women4Women. Fulfilling the vision of Erika Klassen, the group was formed out of a desire to meet the needs of the community. Westview Christian Fellowship (WCF) had recently moved into the neighbourhood and the church was looking for ways to get involved in the community. Inspired by an experience of rummaging through a pile of garage sale clothing, beside a woman from a completely different walk of life, Erika realized that there was much more that made her similar than what made her different from the woman beside her; the search for nice clothes, the common hope for a bargain and most of all, the shared need to be recognized and loved. It was in that moment that Erika felt like she could connect to the community and a simple clothes swap felt like a good option. Quickly the idea snowballed and within the year, over 70 women piled in the basement of Westview to meet Thursday mornings to exchange clothes, drink a cup of coffee, get a haircut and share a meal together. Women4Women was formed.
Right from the start a clear mandate was set- every woman is equal and every woman is encouraged to be herself with no expectations to change. The goal was not to change people, the goal was to love and to build community. Change became a bi-product. New programs were established and by 2011, the group had grown beyond Thursday mornings and a second program was started- Survival4Women. Jane Lavacca, who first came to Women4Women as a community member, began to take leadership of the program and run a weekly Sharing Circle for the women who attended Women4Women, as a way to further develop the relationships they had begun. Workshops, guest speakers and activities became more frequent and the demand from the community grew stronger. One day a week, became two days and eventually became three days. By 2013 Women4Women and Survival4Women had grown beyond the expectations and the need to merge the two groups became evident. Thanks to the support from the community, and a grant from the Niagara Prosperity Initiative, the two groups amalgamated in 2014 and Westview Centre4Women was established.
In January 2024, WC4W committee members and employees incorporated and launched their own organization and moved to 17 Gale Crescent in March. To support this change, WFC closed it's WCFW program.
