In Oliver, we have formed a Refugee Sponsorship Committee to try and help one family from Syria.  We have never met them and have only just recently learned their names – they are the AL LWISI family.  We have only a small amount of information given to us by Immigration Canada, so we know that this is a young family with three children – 7, 4 and 2 years of age.  They have been victims of violence in Syria and have been in a refugee camp for at least 2 years, where their youngest child was born.  The father has an Agriculture Diploma of some sort, and speaks a little English.

The Christ the King Refugee Sponsorship Committee (CTKRSC), working with the Catholic Diocese of Nelson and other Oliver churches, has been approved to sponsor the Al Lwisi family and bring them to Oliver.  We have a house for them, and we have commitments of furniture, some household goods, and winter clothing from local charities. We will also need about $2000 per month to pay for rent, food, utilities, transport, etc, etc. Immigration Canada will give the family partial support for the first 6 months after they arrive in Canada, and the CTKRSC is obligated to support them for the first year.  By then, they will have learned English, will have hopefully become employed, and will be productive members of our town.

If you think we, as a community, should be helping this family, then we are asking you to help us.  Using the example of 100 Men who Give a Damn, where 100 Men or Women get together and all donate $100 to a cause they believe in, such that their $100 donation is ‘magically’ transformed into $10,000, we are asking you for support to the tune of $100, if you can. If $100 is not possible, we ask you to donate what you can, and we can issue a tax receipt for any amount over $20. We will probably need about $20,000 all together and will need a bit of magic to achieve this, but we think the community of Oliver will make it happen.

If you do decide to donate, please make your cheque out to Christ the King, write Refugee Committee on the Memo line, and mail it to Box 130, Oliver, V0H 1T0.  Or you can pay with a credit card via PayPal by going online to www.ctkoliver.org/refugees and clicking on the donate button.  Using either way, we will provide you a tax deductible receipt early in the new year.

Christ the King Refugee Sponsorship Committee