Matched! To a Family of Six!

This past September, a bunch of neighbours and friends got together, hoping to make a difference.

After nearly six months, it has finally happened. 

Our group, Riverdale Refugee Lifeline, has been matched with a Syrian family of six, currently living in Beirut. The family consists of three generations--grandparents, their son, daughter, son-in-law and six year-old granddaughter. We couldn’t be happier!

It’s been a bit of a journey for us, and a learning curve as well.

Last fall, we partnered with Eastminister United Church, so that our donors could receive tax receipts. We attended Lifeline Syria meetings to learn more and eventually received training from a Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH) named AURA, with whom we shared our settlement plan for the family. 

We held meetings, divided ourselves up into committees and took on the tasks of getting ready for the family--finding housing and furniture, looking into English language education, job programs, schools, medical clinics and more. In the new year, our application was transferred from AURA to the United Church of Canada and we were assigned a case worker.

By this time, we had moved away from the idea of a simple private sponsorship (where we would cover the costs of the family for one year) to a special government category that involved people who had no connection to Canada (here the government would cover half the costs and we would cover the other half for the family's first year in the country).

Then came the chaos! A small part of our group had to commit to being online during working hours in case a refugee family profile was offered and decide whether the group would accept the family or not.

The first profile came and went before we fully understood how the system worked. We decided to forego sponsoring a Syrian couple, since we had raised enough money to support a larger family. We missed another family when we chose to have a quick phone call to discuss the case among ourselves, and another group accepted them quickly. Things were moving faster than we ever expected.

Next, we heard the government had decided to pause the release of such family profiles. We weren’t sure what would happen next, but heard that the United Church of Canada had many cases of families with friends or family already in Canada, who were looking to be privately sponsored. So we returned to our original goal and found out about the family of six with whom we have now been matched.

Now that all the paperwork has been completed and the forms have been signed and submitted to the Centralized Processing Office in Winnipeg, the family has its very own Government of Canada processing number.

Now each family member must have an interview with the Canadian Visa Office and undergo both medical and security checks. 

We don't have any firm grasp yet on exactly when they will arrive. We’ve heard it could be as early as 2-4 weeks to a few months to six months! The government will be slowing down the arrival of Syrian refugees at the end of February, but we have been told we will not be too affected by that. Fingers crossed!

With the help of our donors, we have raised more than enough money to support the family for twelve months as required as private sponsors. In fact, we think we will have money left over to help support another family!

We did it - we surpassed our goal!!

Thanks to you, weve raised $73,500, well over our fundraising goal of $60,000.  Thanks to everyone who contributed a donation, large or small.  

With the funds we now have on hand, we're very confident that we will be able to comfortably sponsor our Syrian family for their first year in Canada.  Special thanks to the students and staff of Riverdale's Frankland School, who raised thousands of dollars for our fund (see stories below for some of the details).

Having reached our fundraising goal, we are now suspending our campaign to raise money.  However, please note that there are still some household items that we are seeking for our family, which lie outside the scope of our budget.  

To make a donation of one or more of these items, please click on the "Donate Items" button on the right side of the page.


From all of us at Riverdale Refugee Lifeline, thanks again!

Frankland Concert Drive Raises $1,200 More!

Frankland School's Holiday Concert raises
more than $1,200 for new Canadians.

Frankland School continues to amaze us with their support for Canada's refugee initiative. At three holiday concerts on December 16 and 17, a group of Grade 6 students took a few moments to describe Frankland Lifeline--a school club committed to understanding the world refugee crisis and taking action to help. 

The speech, researched and written by the students themselves, explained in plain terms the causes and effects of refugee crises, with an emphasis on the current situation in Syria. They put Canada's response in historical context, outlining highlights and lowlights of Canada's immigration practices in the past. 

The students closed their presentation by inviting the audience to donate any loose change or small bills to Riverdale Refugee Lifeline, as Santa Hats circulated through the room.  The three short speeches raised $1,269.80.

Thank you, Frankland! 

Frankland School Raises $2,840!

Thanks a million to the students and staff of Frankland Community School for raising $2,840 for the Riverdale Refugee Lifeline's campaign!

Teacher (and RRL member) James Bowen and the Grade 6 students raised $640 by providing babysitting services to Frankland parents at the school's annual Silent Auction on December 3rd.

Each Frankland class created an art canvas for the Silent Auction, like the one pictured here by Ms. Waithe's and Ms. Richards' Junior-Senior Kindergarten Class.  The 16 canvases were raffled off, raising a total of $2,200!

A Musical Gift of $2,379!

Liz, left, and Maria at the Eton House fundraiser

Riverdalians and musicians Liz West and Maria Saras-Voutsinas organized a great fundraising concert for Riverdale Refugee Lifeline on November 28^th at the Eton House on the Danforth.

The evening featured their band, the Nite Owlz, together with local bands Government Rock Picnic, Trainwreck, and special guest Murray Foster.

We were presented with an amazing donation of $2,379 from the evening!  We are so grateful for this gift from our community.  Thanks to all who helped make it happen and to everyone who turned out and helped raise the funds for the Syrian family we will soon be sponsoring!

Some of our members!

Back Row:  Karen, Doug, Andrew, Adam, Ron, James and Tracy  Front Row: Michelle, Catherine, Heather, Henna, Tara, Lindsay and Piali

We are some of the members of Riverdale Refugee Lifeline.  We're 24 in all, from 15 families.  We've been putting in a lot of volunteer hours to get everything ready for the Syrian family we are sponsoring.  We expect the family will arrive in Canada in early 2016.

Our Fundraising Journey for a Syrian Refugee Family

By Henna Agha

When we decided as a group to take on the task of resettling a refugee family here in Toronto, the first thing we had to do was set a fundraising goal.

With 24 individuals (which translates to 15 core members) in our group, we felt we could manage a larger fundraising amount. We looked at several resources to determine what that goal would be. For example, sponsoring a refugee family of 4 requires about $20,000 + start up costs of approx. $7000. 

Sponsorship costs vary according to the size of family being sponsored. Refugees are often given a loan for their medical exams and travel costs to Canada. That loan is capped for a family at $10,000. In determining our fundraising goal, we decided that this would be an onerous burden for the sponsored family starting a life in Canada, so we took that loan amount and added it to our fundraising goal.
 
That’s how we decided to sponsor a family of between 6-8 members, and set a fundraising goal of $60,000.

To date, we’ve raised more than $40,000 towards our goal of $60,000 for resettling a refugee family here in Toronto. We’re more than 2/3 of the way to our goal.
 
We’ve done this by dividing the fundraising responsibility among the core members of our group, so each core member is responsible for raising $4,000. 
Those members then reached out to their network of friends, family, neighbors, and community members.
 
Personally, in addition to the family members and friends that excitedly contributed right away, I have had friends donate to support our endeavor that I haven’t seen face to face in over 20 years. 

Virtual strangers, and friends of friends that I have never met were moved enough to donate under our names. 

Some motivated friends pulled together a fundraiser at the Danforth Social Club this Saturday with local bands, and are donating all the proceeds from the fundraiser to our group.  Such is the power of human goodness. The desire to be involved in something positive and meaningful is a tremendous motivating force.
 
We have partnered with Eastminster United Church, and all donors to our Refugee sponsorship group receive tax receipts. To be transparent, the money contributed online through our Canada Helps fundraising pages is subject to a small 3.5% fee for processing. Canada Helps had the lowest fees associated with fundraising through an online platform. Others charge up to 15% of the donation to process. (GoFundMe for example charges 7.9%+30 cents per donation to process transactions in USA and Canada).
 
On the other hand, donations made by cheque to Eastminster United Church – Refugee Sponsorship Fund have no processing fee attached.

These are the only costs associated with the donations. No funds are used for overhead, administration, staffing etc.
 
Any funds raised that exceed what we require in this initial family resettlement will be used to sponsor additional families in the future, or go towards other refugee resettlement efforts.
 
Once the family is here, our group is responsible for setting up the living arrangements for the family.
 
Temporary housing initially, followed by permanent housing after consultation with the family, and taking into account their requirements.  Perhaps they already have family here that they want to be close to, or they need to access certain services and need to be located close by those service centers for convenience.   

We provide the furniture, clothing, housewares, kitchen supplies, and help navigating the system. Basically everything the family requires to make a home, their home. We set up a bank account, and help the family budget for rent, food, and all other expenses associated with starting a life in Toronto.
 
We also help the family access services, apply for documentation, enroll the children in school, and find both employment training and jobs. Our group provides the financial and emotional safety net for the incoming family for the first year. After 12 months the refugee family is expected to be self-sufficient.
 
Can you help? Attend our fundraiser, or make a tax-deductible contribution today!
 
Or if you have already donated, share our blog with your extended circle of friends and family. Help us come together as a cohesive force for good, positive change!