New Syrian family of six ready to be settled by Interfaith group

February 10, 2016 · 0 Comments

By Brock Weir

It has been a week of mixed emotion for the Interfaith Refugee Resettlers.

The volunteer group, IRR, which is comprised of members from Aurora’s Trinity Anglican Church, the Aurora United Church and the Newmarket Islamic Centre, received word at the start of the week that their efforts to host a Syrian family of six had hit a setback.

“We were saddened to hear their experiences with war in their country had caused a great deal of hardship to their family and that, as such, our sponsorship organization, AURA, felt their needs were far greater than our community could manage. The good news is they have arrived in Canada and are in the care of a support system that involves government agencies as well as sponsorship with a group trained to meet their needs.”

While that was undoubtedly good news for the recently-arrived family, any disappointment felt by the IRR was lifted by further good news, learning soon after they have been selected to support another family of six.

“This young family is ‘travel ready,’” they say. “We could be getting a phone call from AURA any day to welcome them. Our Settlement Planning Committee consists of members who are able to communicate in Arabic and provide transportation, as well as support the needs required for arrival. We have been working with the community to ensure all needs are met for our family and that we will be prepared to receive them when they arrive.”

For more information on the IRR, or to support their efforts, email irrctee@gmail.com.