History
New Visions Homeless Services, formerly Christian Worship Center (CWC) was founded in 1995 in Council Bluffs by Reverend Harry and Ginny Wallar, with a mission of eliminating hunger and homelessness in Council Bluffs and surrounding communities. CWC provided nightly meals to the hungry from a bus under the Council Bluffs viaduct until 1996, when it moved to its first brick and mortar location.
(Rev. Harry H. Wallar Sr. and the mobile kitchen, circa 1995. )
In September 2008, CWC built the "New Visions Complex" in Council Bluffs, the first facility in Southwest Iowa that provided a men's emergency shelter, permanent supportive housing facility for single men and women, a meal site that would seat 250, and a support services building for the homeless and near-homeless. In 2016, CWC officially changed its name to New Visions Homeless Services to better reflect the agency’s work and the impact it has on the community.
Each year, New Visions provides more than 36,000 nights of shelter to 800+ individuals, serves approximately 90,000 meals to 2,400 people and provides 23,500 nights of housing to 150+ individuals who would otherwise be homeless.