Welcome to CHW Victoria

CHW Victoria, inaugurated in 1926 by Lillian Freiman, has been fundraising and supporting education, social and medical services in Israel, and fostering education and women’s issues in Canada, for 94 years.

2020 will be a year that stands out in our memories, for many years to come, as the year a novel coronavirus caused an influenza pandemic that triggered a worldwide shut down of the planet’s economies and affected our daily living routines. As we watch 2020 progress as a year of further tremendous unrest and tumult worldwide, the latter 1920s when Lillian Freiman gave life to the Victoria Chapter of Hadassah-WIZO were also years of tremendous unrest and tumult worldwide. Europe, particularly France and Germany, faced economic collapses, Adolf Hitler was allowed to speak in public and held his first Nazi meeting in Berlin, Stalin tightened his control on the Communist party by expelling Leon Trotsky, Mussolini proclaimed a Fascist “work chart” turning Italy into a corporative state, and violent protests in Austria and France involved anarchists, socialists and communists.  Obviously Lillian Freiman felt there was no better time to start a Zionist organization on the west coast of Canada than the latter 1920s.

“As a daughter of an ancient race I must not look back on the past and be overwhelmed by unhappiness, but from our long history I must derive strength to go on. Courage is the lesson that the Jewish past teaches every member of our race.”

-Lillian Freiman, praised by Golda Meir as “a symbol of what a proud Jewish woman should be.”

Our vibrant little Victoria and Vancouver Island community is small but our spirit is alive and well and our support for Israel and the diaspora community worldwide has not diminished over the years. In the late 1930s, a few short years after CHW Victoria was established, fifteen Jewish couples were rescued from the Nazis and hidden on a farm just north of Victoria. Although we are a little bit older, we are looking forward to continued support of our favourite Israel projects with old and new members and fundraisers; our Purim, Sukkah and Chanukah parties, special speakers, “Walks in the Park,” and especially our birthday lunches.

If you are planning to visit Victoria, or if you are planning to move to Victoria, please get in touch with us. All are welcomed.