Huron Expositor, 2016-07-20, Page 22 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Syrian humanitarian efforts that much closer with $7,000 from Melady-Powers Group
Shaun Gregory
Huron Expositor
Even though the Melady-
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 Commu-
nity Christian Reformed
Church, Brucefield Commu-
nity United Church (Clinton
United Church was not pre-
sent) 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 a $1,000. As well,
there were donations from
the Bethel Bible Church's
Spaghetti Dinner last
December, the Welcome to
Seaforth Benefit Breakfast,
an event that took place at
the Seaforth Agriplex, and
several individual contribu-
tions from the town of Sea -
forth and area. This is an ini-
tiative that Melady considers
to be the logical thing to do
since the money was ear-
marked 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 the progress of this won-
derful group, as they can at
least carry out. 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
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 Syrian
family, which include a
mother, father, mother-in-
law and two children ages,
two and four, he said it
would cost about $30,000.
For now, the four churches
stated that at the present
time it's a waiting game. The
family has been approved
and they're optimist the five
refugees will be here by sum-
mer'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
Providing a good night's sleep to those in need
Justine Alkema
Postmedia Network
Seaforth natives Chris and
Gail Hills are dedicated vol-
unteers. They have been
team leaders with Sleeping
Children Around the World
(SCAW) for over 20 years.
SCAW's mission is simple
- to give bedkits to needy
children in developing
countries.
"As our children grew up,
we realized that like most
western kids, they have way
to much stuff," said Chris.
After realizing this, instead of
giving their kids a gift, they
would give a bedkit to a child
in need. Their child would
receive a photo of the other
child with their new bedkit.
The bedkits include a
mosquito net, plastic mat,
blanket, pillow, pillowcase,
bath towel, toothbrush,
schoolbag, grade two pad,
tote bag, slippers, raincoat,
four t -shirts, two shorts, four
notebooks, three pencils and
three ballpoint pens.
The kits are put together in
the country they are deliv-
ered in. This supports the
local economy and makes
travelling a lot lighter for the
volunteers. Also, each kit
costs around $35, and $35
goes a lot further in a devel-
oping country than here.
Many groups fundraise for
the cause across Canada
through bake sales, garage
sales, barbeques and more.
"SCAW spends no money
on advertising, cold calls, or
mail -outs. It is indeed one of
the few 100% Charities," said
Chris.
The developing country
which the Hills deliver to
changes every five years.
They make the trek to the
country to deliver kits once a
year with a group of
volunteers.
For the last five years, the
country they have delivered
to was the Philippines. On
May 13 - June 3 of this year,
they went on their last trip to
that country. This year alone,
they were able to deliver
5000 kits.
In April, the Filipino com-
munity around Clinton held
a fundraiser dinner for that
trip which was covered by
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
From the left,
Vicki Powers,
Brian Melady,
Gerrit Van
Walderveen, Jack
McLachlan and
Robert McCartney
showcase the
near $7,000
cheque donated
by the Melady-
Powers Seaforth
Refugee
Sponsorship
Group.
Canadian soil. Out of the
many countries with their
applications in progress Leb-
anon is at one of the highest
with 7,900. The family is
expected to reside in
Egmondville in a fully fur-
nished 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.
Boys with their bedkits.
Postmedia. From that event,
they were able to purchase
31 kits. This event will con-
tinue to happen annually.
Although the Hills will be
working in another country,
proceeds from that event will
Contributed photos
continue to go to the
Philippines.
The Hills welcome the
opportunity to visit schools,
libraries, church groups, or
service clubs to talk about
SCAW.
Typical photo a donor will
receive for his/her $35
donation — the child wearing
the shorts and t -shirt from
his bedkit with the rest of the
bedkit items laid out in the
photo. The left sign shows the
country, "Philippines", and the
right shows the location, in
this case, "Porac".
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