Volunteer efforts to bring up to eight Syrian refugees to the Bow Valley have solidified over the past few months and whether they come sooner or take some time to process, preparations are ready for them.
The Bow Valley Syrian Refugee Project has reached its fundraising goal of $80,000, according to volunteer spokesperson Jill Sawyer.
It has also secured housing for refugees thanks to the generosity of local developer Spring Creek Mountain Village.
“One good piece of news is we have housing,” Sawyer said. “Our fundraising efforts were entirely done online and through word of mouth and we have a few donors that have come on board with sizable donations. It is important for people to know all the financial support for a family will come from our organization and we have committed to a year.
“We have also had a lot of support from Spring Creek, they have committed a mobile home that will be decommissioned in 2017 for housing.”
As for the timing of when refugees may arrive, Sawyer said the project is prepared to mobilize immediately to welcome refugees to the valley if they arrive in the immediate future.
“Just looking at what is happening with applications, it could happen really quickly, or it could be a few months. We are prepared if it happens quickly.”
Sawyer said volunteer efforts have pursued two separate paths to bring refugees to Canada. The first is through sponsorship of the local United Church – Ralph Connor Memorial United Church – and there are many other similar applications in the queue.
“We put in the application a few weeks ago and it came back and we were told a lof of organizations like ours are on that list,” Sawyer said. “It is really hard to say exactly when our application will be approved and we are matched with a family.
“We are keeping that iron in the fire and at the same time a few members of our group met with the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society over Christmas.
“They identified a family in contact with them directly and since then we are going back and forth with this Syrian refugee family living in Beirut and trying to do a private sponsorship for them.”
Sawyer said that family will go through the same application process as all other refugees – being screened by the United Nations and the Government of Canada before arriving in the country.
The federal government has committed to welcoming 10,000 refugees to Canada as its top priority, but Sawyer said that does not include community-based sponsorship opportunities like the one in the Bow Valley.
If both applications go through, however, she said the Syrian refugee project is prepared to work to accommodate everyone approved to come here.
“We will work on accommodating the people we are able to bring here,” she said. “We feel this is such an extreme situation; they are in dire circumstances overseas and if we can provide the opportunity to provide a safe place to live in our community, we want to do that.”
She said the volunteer group is grateful for the generosity of the local community in helping reach its goals so quickly.
Go to bowvalleysyria.ca for more information on the project, or to contact organizers with comments or ideas.
