Welcome to our brand new website under our new name West Neighbourhood House.
Why did we change our name?
As we move forward into our second century of service, we have re-committed to welcoming and including new communities. The volunteer Board of Directors governing the House decided to address a source of frequent misinterpretation: our name. The name of St. Christopher House often lead to assumptions that we are a religiously affiliated organization, which we have not been for over 50 years. This assumption prevents certain groups and communities from connecting with us. Although it was a difficult decision, we believe it was necessary to remove this barrier.
After consulting with stakeholders and working with volunteer consultants for over three years, the St. Christopher House Board and staff decided to change our operating name to West Neighbourhood House. We chose “West” because we are committed to supporting communities in our growing west neighbourhoods and “Neighbourhood House” as a way of honouring our settlement house roots as well as linking with other neighbourhood houses across the city and internationally. The tagline “Formerly St. Christopher House” will accompany the new name for the next few years to ensure we make this transition smoothly.
How the name change affects you:
- Our phone numbers and mailing addresses will remain the same.
- Our new website will be www.westnh.org and our email addresses will change to reflect this. Not to worry though, we will still receive emails sent to our old addresses and our old website will still be accessible.
- As of July 2, 2014, we ask that all payments, donations and invoices (eg. cheques) be made out to West Neighbourhood House.
Please help us to spread the news about our new name and don’t hesitate to call us with any questions: 416-532-4828.