We have been matched with a Syrian refugee family!

After a bit of a slow period waiting to be accepted by a sponsorship agreement holder (and most of us being away in August) things have suddenly moved very fast. After Raghu’s interview with the CBC’s The Current, our group was approached by Lifeline Syria, an organization that aims to resettle at least 1,000 Syrian refugees in the Greater Toronto area over the next two years. They asked if we were interested in sponsoring a Syrian refugee family of eight – grandparents, three adult sons (one of them with a mobility issue), a daughter-in-law and two young grandchildren. The family has been approved by the UNHCR and the Canadian government, and is ready to travel.

While sponsoring a family of eight was more than what we had anticipated, the group members’ positive response to the matching request was swift and unanimous. Although we had been open to sponsoring any refugees who need help, many of us have been particularly moved by the plight of Syrian refugees.

Our sponsorship agreement holder is Christie Refugee Welcome Center, but our biggest direct partner in the sponsorship process will be the Lifeline Syria Challenge team at Ryerson University.

Several of us had great meetings with both organizations yesterday, discussing the process and next steps. We received a lot of new, interesting information - we did not know, for example, that refugees receive their flight tickets to Canada as a loan that they need to pay back. 

We were delighted to hear from Samantha and Emma at Lifeline Syria Challenge that many Ryerson students have volunteered to help groups such as ours with research work and practical help. Most importantly, many of the student volunteers are Arabic-speakers (some are even from Syria), a skill that will be desperately needed as none of us speaks the language. They can even provide us with a cultural orientation before the family arrives.

Meeting at Lifeline Syria Challenge, Ryerson University

Once the paperwork has been finalized, the family could arrive any time between one and three months and there is still a lot that needs to be done!

For starters, we need to raise $50,000 to cover half of the family’s living expenses in the first year. The rest will be covered by the Canadian government.

We are very fortunate that a group of Raghu and Wendy's emergency doctor colleagues have already offered to provide financial support. The group is lead by physicians at the University Health Network, with support from doctors at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and St. Michael's Hospital. To date, the emergency physician's group has pledged $ 40,000, bringing the Ripple Refugee group well within reach of our fundraising target for the first family we sponsor. 
We are excited that Jennifer from the University Health Network joined our group last week and that Rebecca, a fundraising guru with tons of experience, became a member this week.

Please help us reach $ 50,000 by donating here.

On the drop-down menu ‘Select a designation for your gift’, select:

Andrew FitzGerald “Ripple Refugee Project”.

The donations with be handled by Ryerson University and you will be issued a charitable tax receipt. Our group will be sponsoring additional refugee families in the future, so any donations above the $50,000 target will be used for those subsequent settlements. 

If you want to help through in-kind-donations (especially furniture) please send us a message through this blog site.