Clinton News Record, 2016-07-27, Page 88 News Record • Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Syrian humanitarian efforts that much closer with $7,000 from Melady-Powers Group
Shaun Gregory
Postmedia Network
Even though the Melody -
Powers Seaforth Refugee
Sponsorship Group have
parted ways with the Ethio-
pian refugees, the falling out
has consequently piloted
possibilities for the sponsor-
ship of a Syrian family and
they are closing in on their
initial funding objective
because of it.
Founder of MPSRSG Brian
Melady met with three of the
four local churches currently
fundraising, including
Egmondville United Church,
Vanastra Community Chris-
t i a n Reformed
Church, Brucefield Commu-
nity United Church and
Clinton United Church (not
present) with a cheque of
$6,925.
The money is the remain-
ing portion of the funds
gathered by local organiza-
tions, which includes the
Seaforth Lions Club, who
donated $1,000. As well,
there were donations from
the Bethel Bible Church's
spaghetti dinner last Decem-
ber, the Welcome to Seaforth
Benefit Breakfast, an event
that took place at the Sea -
forth Agriplex and several
individual contributions
from the town of Seaforth
and area.
This is an initiative that
Melady considers to be the
logical thing to do since the
money was earmarked for a
Seaforth family. He admitted
to not having hard feelings
about this endeavor and
adds that he is happy his
organization was able to
help the Ethiopian refugees
leave their poverty stricken
country.
"It was fundraised for Sea -
forth to help make a
response to help with the
refugee crisis and sponsor a
family to come here," Melady
said in the Egmondville
United Church basement. "It
was very important to us, the
spirit from which the funds
were received and that being
small [town] people, [subse-
quently] we wanted those
people to come to our town:'
"We are very excited to fol-
low progress of this wonder-
ful group. But we need to
make this very clear, this
wasn't our money to carry
out, this is the community's
money."
With the near $7,000
endowment amalgamated
between the four churches,
they are currently sitting at
about $26,000. According to
Jack McLachlan, chair of the
Shaun Gregory/Postmedia Network
From the left, Vicki, Brian Melady, Gerrit Van Walderveen, Jack McLachlan and Robert McCartney showcase the near $7,000 cheque
donated by the Melody -Powers Seaforth Refugee Sponsorship Group.
Tuckersmith Refugee Pro-
ject, "This certainly helps a
lot; it makes our fundraising
a lot easier than what it was
before '
To take care of the Syrians,
which include a mother,
father, mother-in-law and
two children ages two and
four, he said it would cost
about $30,000.
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For now, the four churches
stated that at the present
time it's a waiting game. The
family has been approved
and they're optimistic the
five refugees will be here by
summer's end.
The father who speaks lit-
tle English recently fled
alone on Christmas Eve to
Lebanon because he heard
rumors that the Syrian Army
had been looking for him.
After a few months, the fam-
ily followed, and now they
are in Lebanon together
waiting patiently to live the
Canadian dream, said Rob-
ert McCartney, who is a
member of the Brucefield
Community United Church.
"Their friend from London
Ont. said their spirits rose
100 per cent when they
found out we were willing to
sponsor them. Before that
they were in limbo," he said.
"They didn't know what they
were going to do. They
couldn't go back to Syria."
The family's friend will be
there as soon as they arrive
to help with the welcoming.
This humanitarian refugee
effort started after a brain-
storming session last
November.
After several meetings and
the help from the appropri-
ate organizations, everyone
jumped on board. By the fol-
lowing February, an applica-
tion was submitted.
From recent reports from
the Government of Canada,
roughly 28,000 Syrian refu-
gees have made it onto
Canadian soil. Out of the
many countries with their
applications in progress,
Lebanon is at one of the
highest with 7,900. The
family is exptected to reside
in Egmondville in a fully
furnished rented space that
is ready to use
immediately.
"Once the actual family
arrives and people can meet
them, I think the community
will be behind them, and the
fundraising will be a non -
issue," McCartney said.
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