Who We Are
The Waterloo Wayside Centre is a group of people focused on creating and supporting community where it would otherwise not exist. Born out of our deep desire to help one another, the Waterloo Wayside Centre serves the youth, the senior population, and the marginalized in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. Hosted at Emmanuel United Church, located in the heart of Uptown Waterloo, the centre offers a variety of programs to help the bodies, hearts and minds of those that need it the most.
Through partnerships with other community-based organizations and a dedicated team of volunteers, the Waterloo Wayside Centre is able to host and foster grass-roots programs that address real needs within the community. As a testimony to the impact of the centre and the restorative nature of its programs, many of our volunteers joined our ranks after starting off as clients.
Our Vision
The Waterloo Wayside Centre supports and builds community by providing safe places and opportunities to share and connect. In sharing our experiences and gifts with each other, we can meet our immediate physical needs for food and shelter and our long-term need to live independently while contributing and belonging to a loving, forgiving and inclusive community.
Our Approach
At Waterloo Wayside, our governance is rooted in Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD). We believe that every individual—guest, volunteer, or director—possesses unique gifts and capacities. We are not here to “fix” a neighborhood, but to mobilize the rich ecosystem of assets that already exist within it. We seek collaborative leaders who view our community through this lens of abundance and are dedicated to building collective power through strategic partnerships.
Our Governance
Waterloo Wayside Centre is an independent, non-profit corporation and a CRA-registered charity. We are governed by a volunteer Board of Directors committed to transparency, fiscal responsibility, and the principles of Asset-Based Community Development. Our board works to provide the strategic “scaffolding”—including legal oversight, financial sustainability, and community partnerships—that allows our grassroots programs to flourish. We believe that healthy governance is the foundation of a resilient and integrated community.
Interested in contributing your “gifts of the head, heart, and hands” to our leadership team?
Learn more and apply to Join Our Board of Directors.