Refugee Sponsorship Stories

Debra Fieguth

When a group at St. Hilda’s-St. Luke’s in St. Thomas, Ontario was asked to consider sponsoring a refugee family in honour of PWRDF’s fifth anniversary, “we just simply said yes on the spot,” says Nancy Lovelock.

Refugee family arrives to a warm welcome

St James Dundas and Christ Church Flamborough welcomed a refugee family to Hamilton, Ontario, on February 24. Below is an account of the family's first day in Canada, written by a member of the sponsoring group.

The Diocesan sponsored refugee family (from Iraq) arrived on November 19 and were met by several of us on the PWRDF Refugee committee. They have now settled nicely in their 2-bedroom apartment that was fully furnished from the kind donations of parishioners throughout the diocese.

A youth group from St Mary's Kirkland has teamed with a group of adults from St George's, St Anne de Bellevue, in an effort to sponsor a refugee family to begin a new life in Canada. The group recently travelled to Toronto and met with Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, and his wife, Lynne Samways-Hiltz.

Earlier this year, we shared the story of an exciting effort in Kaslo BC to sponsor a refugee family. The Ven Dirk Pidcock first wrote to PWRDF in November 2008, about the possibility of the small parish of St. Mark (25 members and friends) seeking a community-based coalition to make a refugee sponsorship effort possible. The group was feeling confident that they would succeed because they knew the community would pitch in. Kaslo and area holds a population of some 1,000 people.

The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) is delighted to announce that the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson will be the patron for its 50 Refugee Families Sponsorship initiative.

It was seeing a friendly neighbourhood child demonstrate the hot and cold running water taps that brought home to us just how far out of their comfort zone our new arrivals must be.

Members of St. Mary's and St. George's Churches had an optimistic and energetic gathering on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 to consider their next steps towards sponsoring a family of refugees.

Almost 200 Palestinian refugees from Iraq are waiting anxiously, hoping beyond hope that they will find a new home in Canada through the private sponsorship program. It’s their only chance to escape life in a refugee camp on the Iraq/Syria border, where the water tanks are dirty and in need of maintenance, doctors sometimes visit but not often or long enough to treat everyone in need, and children above primary school age have no access to education.

Exciting things are happening in the diocese of Kootenay! Responding to the PWRDF anniversary initiative to sponsor 50 refugee families, a very committed group of individuals is working hard to help one or more refugee families begin new lives in Canada. It's hoped that each region and each parish in the diocese of Kootenay will support a sponsorship, either by contributing financially, or by organizing a sponsoring group.