Refugee Unit Seeks Parish Co-Sponsors
The Diocesan Refugee Unit is seeking parishes to co-sponsor refugees to come to the lower mainland. Several community groups who have approached us, hoping to sponsor refugees. In each case, the community group is ready and willing to provide the financing and settlement support required once the refugees arrive.
In this situation, a co-sponsoring parish would be responsible for these things:
- Hold funds until the refugees arrive.
- Provide monthly cheques to the newcomers over the course of their year of settlement.
- Maintain contact with the community group to ensure the newcomers are settling well (can be via email).
- Maintain contact with the Diocesan Refugee Unit periodically, during the course of the sponsorship (via email).
Parishes are welcome to participate in additional ways, but this is not required.
These are the cases we are hoping to find co-sponsors for:
1: A single woman from Iraq, sponsored by her brother who is here.
2: A family of 10 people from Afghanistan. This family has a father who was a doctor, one daughter who completed medical training, and a daughter and a son who had to leave their medical training, and 5 children under the age of 12.
3: A single woman from Democratic Republic of the Congo who will be sponsored by her aunt.
If your parish would like to consider this opportunity to change the life of a refugee, please contact Shannon Muir at smuirslp@gmail.com.