Christian Women’s Job Corps: a Ministry of the Women’s Missionary Union

Edwina Messer, site coordinator of the local Christian Women’s Job Corps.  Photo: Susan Black

By Sarah Williams

The Christian Women’s Job Corps offers help and hope for a better tomorrow.

Christian Women’s Job Corps (CWJC), coordinated by Edwina Messer, became a certified program with the purpose of providing a Christian context in which women in need are equipped with life skills and made ready for employment; the organization also fulfills a mission in which women help women.

Women often face obstacles, challenges, and problems on any given day and may find themselves in need of assistance for their families. Christian Women’s Job Corps offers help and hope for a better tomorrow and the message of good news that will change a life now and for all eternity.

Since its inception in 2001 many CWJC clients have moved on to
success by establishing homes and securing jobs and higher education.
They come to CWJC by referral – motivated by their willingness to
participate in the program.

The Job Corps’s volunteer mentors assist participants in four
areas of assistance: one-on-one support and encouragement; advocacy and
assistance in job training and educational opportunities; help in
addressing concerns such as: and direct help with childcare,
transportation, and food.

The guiding principle is to offer a hand up, not a handout, so
that participants gain three benefits: important practical life skills;
self respect by providing for themselves and their children; assurance
in the knowledge that God loves them.

Although operating with limited funds, their mission has been
successfully met. They are asking your support to help them continue to
make a difference in the lives of women seeking a better tomorrow.
Donations of any amount will be greatly appreciated and are tax
deductible.

CWJC offers several avenues for both men and women to help make
a difference in the lives of women in need. These include: prayer,
making a financial donation to assist the program’s growth, or donate
household items, women’s professional clothing, even a used car to help
a woman get to work.

The test of our love to God is the love that we have and show to
one another. Since the early 1900s the Women’s Missionary Union as well
as other mission-focused groups have assisted women and their families
in various situations and circumstances. CWJC offers love,
encouragement, help and hope for a brighter life and future. Throughout
North Carolina, across cultural or racial lines, CWJC is empowering
women in need by providing resources that will help them.

How you can help: Please consider being a volunteer mentor. A
volunteer mentor has many noteworthy characteristics including: Her
life demonstrates her Christian growth and maturity. She has an
outgoing personality. She is caring. She is a team player. She is a
good listener. She is a motivator. She is flexible. She is a teacher by
word. She recognizes strengths in others. She is committed to CWJC.

For more information, please contact the Christian Women’s Job
Corps of Buncombe County, 227 Hazel Mill Road, Asheville, NC 28806.
Phone: (828) 252-1864 ext. 307

Willie M. Brown contributed to this article.