Thanks to a generous donor who provided $25,000 and a church that agreed to step up and take on the task, two families of Syrian refugees will eventually make a new start in Goderich, Ont.
The person who provided the initial funds “has a passion for the world,” said Rev. Bill Vanderstelt, minister at Knox. He said the donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, approached him in the fall of 2015 and said their concern for Syrian refugees had been growing over the years. They were willing to donate enough money to sponsor a family from Syria if others in the congregation would take on the work that would be required.
Knox was already contributing financially to the Welcome Project, a refugee sponsorship put together by the local ministerial group. It was working to bring a Sudanese family to Canada.
When the congregation at Knox agreed to take on its own sponsorship, it dubbed its efforts the Welcome Project Syria.
“My dad’s a Dutch immigrant and we said, you know, when immigrants come they like to have people to talk to,” said Vanderstelt. “So our suggestion was there probably should be not just one family or one big family, but if we had a couple of families they would be able to converse together, they would be able to start forming community. And so we decided we would support another family.”
The church is now sponsoring two groups—a family of three and a family of six. A mother, father and a three-year-old daughter were expected to arrive by the end of February.
Vanderstelt said he “was never really worried about the money” that would be required to sponsor an additional six people. “I’ve always found Presbyterians are very generous when they see a cause that they can identify with and stand behind.”
“The project certainly is doing what the donor had hoped it would do because it really involved both the congregation in mission and it involved the community in the congregation,” he said. The Welcome Project Syria has expanded to include a broad range of people of various ages and backgrounds.
“This has been very good at moving people from thinking about it to actually doing the work of mission.”
