The Bow Valley Syria Refugee Project is hoping the sweet taste of hope will entice enough diners to raise $40,000 needed to sponsor a second Syrian refugee family’s relocation to the Bow Valley.
On Thursday, (Oct. 26), the group is hosting a fundraising dinner at the Bill Warren Training Centre in Canmore.
Starting at 6 p.m., attendees will receive drinks and amuse-bouches, which will kick off the four-course dinner prepared by local chef, Patric Stettler.
Each course is introduced by the chef or a member of his culinary team, and a sommelier will introduce each wine pairing.
Tickets are $125, so “people get a beautiful four course meal – with wine – for essentially $50, and $75 goes to a good cause,” said Debra Hornsby of the Bow Valley Syria Refugee Project.
The group, in conjunction with Ralph Connor Memorial United Church and the United Church of Canada, successfully raised enough funds last year to bring the Kahkejians, a family of six, from Syria to Canada.
“This first sponsorship was really fulfilling and worthwhile for all of us who worked on it, and the Kahkejians have really settled into the Bow Valley. When you sponsor a family, they don’t have to stay in your home community. They can go anywhere they like, yet they’ve all said they love the Bow Valley, they love Canmore, they want to stay here and want to make lives here.”
The official sponsorship for the Kahkejians is ending Nov. 1, and now the group has committed to bringing a Syrian family of three – Dana, her husband Waill, and Waill’s mother Salma – to Canada by way of Malaysia.
“Our second family fled Damascus due to fighting. They first fled to Egypt and then, when things became very precarious in Egypt, they fled to Malaysia. The reason they did that is because they had no papers, and at that point there were only two countries in the world accepting people without papers, and one of them was Malaysia.”
The United Nations had a refugee agency in the country, but it has since been shut down and now refugees there are often subject to various abuses such as caning, whipping and human trafficking.
All three family members speak English, both Waill and Dana are graphic designers, and they have a family connection in the Bow Valley, so Hornsby said they were a good fit for sponsorship.
“The Bow Valley doesn’t have all the services that a big city has for newcomers to Canada, so we looked for a family that would have a bit of a head start.”
The $40,000 price tag associated with sponsoring the family will provide “all income, housing, everything for one year, and then all the other soft supports that people need such as navigating the health system and the education system,” said Hornsby.
The federal government has approved the application for sponsorship, and now it’s important that the funds are in place for the family’s arrival, as sponsors are usually given very little notice as to when that will be. In the case of the Kahkejians, the Bow Valley Syria Refugee Project was only given 10 days notice.
Hornsby says it’s important to recognize just how much effort the families put into their resettlement, and that the funds raised really go towards “sharing the gift of Canada.
“The Kahkejians have so much initiative and drive. They’ve made their home here in Canada and they just needed a little help.
“Our sponsorship to them has ended, but our friendship hasn’t and we will continue to support them in navigating Canadian systems if they need help,” she said.
Fariborz Birjandian, an Iranian refugee who works as the chief executive officer with the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society will speak at the dinner about his work helping to resettle families like the Kahkejians in Canada, and “about how we are a nation of newcomers, really. That Canada is a nation of newcomers and how they enrich our communities,” said Hornsby.
Entertainment will also be provided by local folk duo The Raven and the Fox, and the dress code is “mountain business casual is what we came up with,” said Hornsby.
“In other words, your best fleece.
“We’re hoping people will go away feeling they’ve had a wonderful evening with their friends, and that they’ve helped give hope. That’s been our theme for the dinner.”
Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Bow Valley Syria Refugee Project website at: http://bowvalleysyria.ca/updates.
