Fundraiser for Syrian Refugees on Sunday
Prince George, B.C. – The Exploration Place will be the site of a Syrian refugee fundraiser Sunday.
Admission is by cash donation and runs from 3-5 p.m. There will be craft tables, henna (temporary tattoo art), a silent auction as well as other activities for families to participate in.
Hira Rashid, volunteer event coordinator for the group PG Citizens for Syrian Refugee Support, says the plan is to raise funds to help privately sponsor Syrian refugee families to come to Prince George.
“Because we didn’t make the cut to get the government to sponsor them I think maybe because we’re a smaller city,” she says. “There’s a lot of private groups in town, a lot of churches, that are trying to sponsor refugee families, so what we’re trying to do is collectively raise money to help them out.”
She says all money collected on Sunday will be held by the Immigrant and Multicultural Services Society (IMSS).
“We’re not working with them, they’re just holding the money for us so that way they can equally distribute it,” says Rashid.
“It costs about $30,000 to sponsor one family of six and so we want to bring families into the community and welcome them and give them a new home.”
She says the money will be used for things like accommodation and clothing, all the basic necessities for one year until they can get back on their feet.
According to a city report, Prince George will receive five privately sponsored refugees before Christmas and will be working with the provincial government and community agencies to prepare for their arrival.
The report also says IMSS has experienced settlement practitioners and capacity to provide onsite language training and daycare service plus a network of mentors prepared to welcome and assist refugees access things such as health and health services.
In addition, the provincial government has provided funding for five Community Refugee Response Teams, designed to meet immediate refugee needs.
It is expected that Prince George will receive a maximum $25,000 to aid in those efforts.
Rashid says she can’t wait for the first family to arrive.”It’s pretty soon which is amazing. Once we have our first family here it will push the community to welcome more.
“It would be great to get a few families in town just because Prince George is such a loving and caring community and we’ve seen that through organizing this event.”
Comments
Nope sorry, I support the salvation army, refuse to give to one group of people. Let the Libs take them in their houses.
oh how quickly we forget our pasts. I hear so much negativity from people who feel that all muslims and refugees are terrorists. There are a few that may have a tendency towards this but I remember someone saying.
Remember what the KKK is to the Christian faith, remember what a few Catholic priest did to the first Nation to the their religion.
We have to give these man/wife and kids a chance to start a new life, in their new country. welcome, become Canadians, we are warm and welcoming people, get buried deep into our society and become Canadians.
this is the milestone, no different than 100 years ago, when we brought in people from around the world to populate the prairries. I am sure there was a lot of English people that hated all these Slavic people coming in. They turned out pretty good.
I love it whenever people try to defend the Muslim faith, they bring up the KKK in defense. Did you know that there were more black-on-black murders in six months than by ‘KKK’ in 86 years? Ooops, you get your info by your Liberal CBC media I suppose? Where was it stated all Syrians are terrorists? Jumping to conclusions much?
Nobody is disagreeing with giving people a fresh start, just give the opportunity to our own countrymen first.
Oh, and please stop going back 100 years to make your point, the world was a different place back then. Is this really hard to understand?
From the dunes to the slopes. Quite the contrast I might add. What I do not understand is why the Middle east countries will not accommodate them? The next five years is going to be one expensive project when all is said and done.
Not to suggest that Muslim refugees should not be welcome, but do we even know that those who come to PG will be Muslim? Some of the most persecuted people in Syria are the minorities: the refugees might be Christian, Yezidi, Ahl-e-Haq, Druze, or Alawite (who pretend to be Muslim but arguably aren’t really and in any case are generally considered heretics by more mainstream Muslims), agnostic, or atheist. And those Kurds who are Muslim (the majority) tend to be alienated from the jihadists due to the ethnic divide.
Thanks for that billposer!!!
The ignorance of people on here and on other internet sites as well shows big time.
Canadians are getting as bad as the citizens of the USA when it comes to knowledge of world geography, politics and culture.
“we are warm and welcoming people” This gave me a chuckle He Spoke. On a different thread a guy is talking about blasting his horn if someone doesn’t use the merge lane to his way of thinking. I’d postulate we’re not as warm and welcoming as you think.
PG101 as a followup to your comment above – although I believe that the Salvation Army does some good work they are not inclusive in their religion, something as a gay person I find offensive. Therefore, I do not give to the Salvation Army – Yep that is me walking by not donating to the kettle. However, there are many avenues to donate to those in need – including just going downtown and handing stuff out. I guess in a way we are ‘lucky’ to have so many avenues of giving. Just a short reminder that the Salvation Army is not as great in their giving spirit as one might think.
turtle012 – true, as a religious organization they do not permit gays in position of leadership – but as an organization that helps the downtrodden, they do not discriminate in anyway whom they help. St. Vincent De Paul is Catholic based, has the same issue, but again, do not discriminate on whom they help. I am a protestant but I donate to St. Vincent because of the work they do, in spite of the fact I have issues with the religion. I guess the solution would be for the gay community to set up their own charity. But if they do, will straight people be able to apply for leadership positions – or will they be disqualified based on their sexual orientation. Me, I don’t worry so much about the vehicle as I do the results.
Stop the presses…..we have a gay person on here who is offended by something….will wonders never cease.
A guy I work with is Armenian (fairly tight community out here) and he said that allot of the people coming in this first wave are people that were privately sponsored by the Armenian communities in Toronto and Montreal and that they had already been approved to come here for a couple of years, but were just waiting in the queue. These people would generally be Christian.
He was quite surprised because in his words, he didn’t feel that these people were “true” refugees, but immigrants that would’ve landed here eventually anyway.
Take that for what it’s worth and it’s completely unvalidated. It’s just some feedback from someone in that community. That’s not to say that these people shouldn’t be welcomed or that they aren’t technically refugees.
I can’t stand the “take care of our own before we help others” mentality.
You will never find a society where everyone is living just peachy, but to close our borders to refugees because you feel money can be better spent elsewhere is ridiculous. We’re part of a global community.
As a first generation Canadian, I know how hard my family had to work to make it here and never were we a strain on public benefits. We were much too proud.
They will know how bad life can get, and they will appreciate the opportunity in Canada. Even though I was born in Canada, I know my family moved here to give me better opportunity. Something I’ve never forgotten. These refugees will cost money upfront, but I can almost guarantee they will be tax generating citizens, and their family will be grateful to Canada for the opportunity.
…that is if we truly welcome them.
WOMEN—– and their rights is what bothers me. On the TV news last night a Father welcomed his sons from Syria ,where were the females , a little girl was hugged and a older lady with a head scarf on was standing in the background. Women are treated different in the middle east and the men when they come to Canada have to be informed Women have equal rights in Canada and are not controlled by men. I should add the sons were quite good looking.
Oh come on people. It is not about the Salvation Army, gay rights, religion, whether women walk behind men this is about real families living in hell just wanting a life in a peaceful world. No more and no less than what we want!!
Welcome them to Canada. If you can’t, just look at your own family history. Surely a grandparent or great grandparent or even greater came to Canada for a new life.
Posted on Friday, December 11, 2015 @ 3:41 PM by pgjohn
I can’t stand the “take care of our own before we help others” mentality.
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That’s because you don’t take care of your own. Wind bag
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