Huron Expositor, 2015-12-16, Page 7Wednesday, December 16, 2015 • Huron Expositor 7
Refugee committee working to welcome Syrian family to West Perth
Money,
resources from
all sectors already
collected
Galen Simmons
Postmedia Network
As the bombing campaign
against ISIS over Syria and
Iraq proves itself to be less
effective than coalition
countries had hoped, a sec-
ond, more humanitarian
strategy for removing power
from the Islamic State has
presented itself.
Although this second
strategy has been met with
some backlash, as well as a
healthy dose of caution, peo-
ple in countries around the
world have begun to open
their doors to those who are
affected most by the wars
that plague their country -
the Syrians.
Churches, community
organizations, municipali-
ties and individuals across
the globe have decided the
best way to defeat ISIS is to
prove the group's mentality
of "Muslims versus the
world" wrong by welcoming
in as many of the families
who want no part in this war
as possible, while also offer-
ing them a safe, accommo-
dating and accepting home
in which they can live, work
and raise their children.
Although still in its early
stages, this was the idea
behind the formation of the
West Perth Syrian Refugee
Committee, chaired by
Mitchell's Louis DeDecker.
"In October, Bishop (Ron-
ald Peter) Fabbro sent out a
letter to all the parishes in
the London Diocese stating
the plight of the refugees,
especially the Syrian refu-
gees, and if there were peo-
ple to help with bringing the
refugees over, the Diocese
would help in that situation,"
DeDecker explained. "Our
parish priest, Father Clare
(Coleman, of St. Vincent de
Paul Roman Catholic
Church in Mitchell and St.
Patrick's Catholic Church in
Kinkora) said we should
form a committee and start
moving forward, and that's
what we did."
As someone with familial
ties to Syria, DeDecker was
the obvious choice for chair
of the Syrian Refugee
Committee.
"My son-in-law is Syrian -
they live in Mitchell, but he
and my daughter have lived
in the Middle East. So in
2010, my wife and I actually
went over to Syria for their
wedding party, met his fam-
ily and it was very enjoyable
- it's a sad turn that now the
civil war has taken place,"
DeDecker said.
Once the committee was
struck, members had to
spread word to the commu-
nity at large that they
intended to raise money to
bring a refugee family to
West Perth in order to gauge
whether there would be
enough public support for
the venture, both financially
and otherwise.
"And that's one thing that
has come across loud and
clear. It seems people knew
that we had this committee,
not only from our own
churches, but the commu-
nity in general, the ministe-
rial association in Mitchell
wanted to be involved and
do whatever they can, even
though their congregations
may be smaller than ours,"
DeDecker said. "Their will
has been very good and pri-
vate individuals have come
and said they would support
any way they could - maybe
not monetarily, but if they
needed drivers or anything
like that. I was just blown
away by the amount of sup-
port that's come to us from
the community in general."
According to the informa-
tion DeDecker was provided
by the London Diocese
when he committed the
committee to raising money
to bring a Syrian family to
West Perth, the cost of set-
ting up a refugee family of
four in the community and
supporting them for a year
would be around $27,000.
"We're starting with one
(family) and if the finances
are there and we have the
capability to do more, we'll
do more later. We're starting
with one," he said.
Currently, the West Perth
refugee committee has sub-
mitted the necessary
Seaforth Manor and Queensway are set up to take
clothing donation drop offs for the Syrian refugees
Special to the Expositor
Seaforth Manor, Retire-
ment Living and Long Term
Care and Queensway, Retire-
ment Living and Long Term
Care are now set up to take
clothing donation drop offs
for new and gently used
clothing to be given to the
distribution center in
Toronto for the Syrian
refugees.
"Canada is expecting to
welcome thousands of Syr-
ian refugees in the coming
months and as all Canadians
know our winters come with
bone chilling (encounters
of) wind. This is a time of
year the refugees will need
w
0
1
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5
• �s.r
4 feLANORr
Submitted Photo
With the thousands of
Syrian refugees coming to
Canada, the Seaforth Manor
implemented a proposal to
keep them warm.
clothing and we will do our
best to help;" says Christine
Ozimek, C.E.O. of Provincial
Long Term Care, parent
company of Seaforth Manor
and Queensway. "This year
with so many immigrants
coming into Canada the
clothing distribution will be
strained by an already over-
whelming need of clothing
for existing low income
families."
Canada's Immigration
Office has identified clothing
distribution centers. In
Ontario, New Circles is the
clothing donation office.
They are located in Toronto
at 161 Bartley Avenue. The
clothing dropped off at Sea -
forth Manor and Queensway
will be picked up throughout
January and delivered to the
New Circles drop off in
Toronto for distribution to
the refugees and other
needed families.
"Any effort on our behalf
to collect new and gently
used clothing in the commu-
nities will benefit everyone,"
mentioned Ozimek. "We
want to do our part. These
people faced great hardships
and maybe we can make a
difference in being able
to provide them clothing,
especially during winter."
Thanking you for your patronage.
Happy Holidays..
paperwork to the Diocese
office in Windsor and they
have been placed on a wait-
ing list to be matched up
with an approved family.
Between now and the time a
family is sent to live in West
Perth, DeDecker and the
committee have to raise
enough money to ensure
that family's basic needs are
covered - including a place
to live, medical care and
their financial needs.
"We started off (fundrais-
ing) in our own parishes and
we have the Knights of
Columbus and the Catholic
Women's League, and then
we had a special collection
collected. Between those
areas - I haven't got the final
tally - but we're over $7,000,"
DeDecker said. "It's a good
start.'
With other churches in the
community also showing
interest in supporting the
fund-raising effort,
DeDecker said the commit-
tee is still in the process of
organizing an all-encom-
passing fundraising cam-
paign. Even students at
Mitchell District High School
have expressed their interest
in helping, and a student
representative is currently in
discussions with the com-
mittee about how student
power can be harnessed to
enhance the committee's
efforts.
DeDecker asks that any-
one who is interested in
making a donation of either
money, supplies such as
clothing, or time should call
him at (226) 921-4089 to
coordinate with the commit-
tee. By January, DeDecker
hopes to have brought all of
the area churches into the
fold so that parishioners eve-
rywhere can donate at their
own church.
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