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NOTICE OF CLOSURE

Women's Center for Healing & Transformation

and Closing Ceremony Zoom Link

Monday, March 16, 2026, 7:00 PM

more details below


A Buddhist sand mandala is art that is meant to be temporary and lovingly released, as a metaphor for how to treat all of life. Each act, item, or relationship seen as an art, as temporary, and to be released with love. The form is no longer evident, but the process changes all involved in its creation and transformation. That change carries on in our hearts, our spirits, our cells.


"Who can say if I've been changed for the better....I do believe I have been changed for the better....but, because I knew you, I have been changed for good."

-Wicked, the musical

Some of us from the Women's Center went to see and hear the Dalai Lama when he came to New Orleans, and many Tibetan monks created a beautiful, intricate sand mandala over the days of his visit. We were each able to collect a bit of the sand after its ceremonial dissolution and carry it in procession to the Mississippi River and release it with the monks. The water carried the grains of sand in new swirling combinations to their next adventure.


Closure Notice: While our devotion to what the Women’s Center represents has always been deep and heartfelt, the practical reality of running a nonprofit primarily with volunteers has become increasingly challenging. We have reached a point where the human resources needed to responsibly continue the organization are simply no longer available. Our hope is that the spirit of the Center — our commitment to one another and to staying connected as sisters in a complex and often painful world — will continue to find new forms and pathways beyond this structure.

In recent months, the current board has faced many challenges and has submitted its resignation. A small group of past and recent board members has stepped forward to take the necessary steps to close the organization.


This plan will involve closing all vender, financial, correspondence and social media accounts, paying outstanding debts, filing final tax documents, notifying the IRS, Secretary of State and the Town of Abita Springs, and completing the many other practical tasks needed to bring the organization to a dignified and ethical close.

A detailed plan for this process was created by Cindy Van Duyne and approved by the Leadership Council (Board) in 2024 for when it may be needed, and that plan has now been updated to guide our next steps.


Please Note that the name or aliases/nicknames/initials etc. for Women's Center for Healing & Transformation and any of its accounts will not be available for use after the incorporated entity is no longer place. The contacts will not be given or sold to any other entity. All email accounts and social media will be closed as per Secretary of State requirements.

The exception for short term during the closure process--please save this email: womens.ctrforhealing@gmail.com

If you are trying to reach an individual in the organization after March 16, send an inquiry to the email above within a few weeks and we will do our best to connect you with that person, with their permission.


PROVIDERS OF SERVICES: If you want your contact info listed in an upcoming email to all, write to the above email within 48 hours and include any or all of the following: Name, business name/name of service(s) offered (brief please), phone, email, website, FB page, and preferred method of contact for others to join your contact list. You can also list these on WC FB page or group, not to advertise a particular program please, but just to let folks know what you offer in general if they want to reach out to you to get added to your contacts.

Providers can also text Patricia at (985) 264-8089 with questions.

We will send an email out to all participants/email lists with provider info from those who offer it, tomorrow night or Thursday.


For others who wish to stay connected, you may want to join or revisit our Facebook page and group as a way to network with the community. We plan to leave the group open for a month so people have an opportunity to find each other, share updates, and continue nurturing the relationships and networks that have meant so much to us all. We will also send a couple more emails through Constant Contact with additional information on how you can remain connected.

No programs will be offered through these means, as we plan to stop operations as of mid-March when our insurance expires. You are welcome to contact individual providers to seek their services privately, and more info on how to do that will be provided. Their services will in no way be connected to WCHT as of today.


The local activities that have been hosted under the umbrella of the Center — the Walking Club, Zen Meditation, and Book Club — will continue with the same dedicated leadership that has held them over time and will no longer be part of the WCHT. We are not sure about Drum Circle but will share on FB when we know.


Abita Springs Walking Club

Bev McCoy bevpatkev1@msn.com or 480-200-0560


Zen Mindfulness Meditation new location, weekly Mondays

Carolyn 985-705-3395

Bonnie at 985-690-0740 or lewisbonnie137@gmail.com


Book Club--Novel Characters, same location (Abita Springs Museum)

monthly Wednesdays 999diane@gmail.com



DONORS: We have been reaching out to donors individually, but in case we have not connected with you directly, please receive our heartfelt thanks for your loving and generous support over the years. We also ask that you stop any recurring donations at this time, whether through PayPal or your bank’s online bill-pay system, as those contributions are set up and managed by each donor.



To all supporters, providers, board emeritus, other volunteers, past staff, partners, and beloved participants: From the bottom of our hearts, and on behalf of everyone who has ever served this mission, thank you. The Women’s Center for Healing & Transformation has existed because of your care, your presence, your courage, and your belief in what we could create together. Though it is painful to say goodbye to the organization as we have known it, the connections, healing, and wisdom we have shared will continue to live on in each of us.


For those of you pruning away the old with gusto:

May all your hopes be dashed, may all your certainties be shaken, so that from old dreams you waken, free to dance with the mystery of life.--Patricia Stout


For those feeling more tender on this day:

May all that you have poured into this community return to you in

full and gentle measure.--AI






YOU ARE INVITED TO A CLOSING CEREMONY

for the Women's Center for Healing & Transformation

Monday, March 16 at 7:00 pm on Zoom

1-2 hours or more for those who choose to stay.


Click Here for Zoom Link or join using meeting ID 2062412090


No password needed; waiting room enabled for security.

Please text 985-264-8089 if login help is needed.


Please help share the invitation with your WCHT friends by copying and texting or emailing the link above so all can be included.


Feel free to bring a word, phrase, or show-and-tell of something you are releasing personally or collectively to share as part of our ceremony.


A sand mandala made and released back into the elements at our 2018 retreat


Contact info: womens.ctrforhealing@gmail.com

Patricia Stout 985 264-8089

Anitra Smith-Senegal 337-852-8520