Our Alliance family in the Middle East is visiting the homes of those who have been desperately displaced in the recent Syrian refugee crisis.
Click on the picture below to view the reality of this crisis; and the hope that is being cultivated in providing basic needs and prayer.
The refugee sponsorship Syrian Journey of Hope is a grassroots community initiative led by three Alliance Churches in Kingston, Ontario. Our ‘Constituent Group’ aims to bring a Syrian family in need of a safe and welcoming place to live here to Kingston under the Government of Canada ‘Private Sponsorship of Refugees’ programme. This means that we are responsible for 100% of their financial and settlement assistance for their first year after arrival. During this year the refugee family is expected to work toward becoming independent and self-sufficient.
We feel that a reasonable financial target is $50,000 for the sponsorship period and that once we have raised $30,000 ($15,000 cash in hand and $15,000 pledged for the coming year) that we will initiate an ‘Undertaking/Application to Sponsor’ through our ‘Sponsorship Agreement Holder,’ The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada. This organization maintains a list of pre-screened families from which we can select. At that time we will also need to file a ‘Settlement Plan’ with Citizenship and Immigration Canada. We would like to be able to do this within the next month or two.
With an energetic group of fundraisers thinking of fun and interesting ways to generate the cash and pledges we need to commit to this Syrian Journey of Hope, we are off to a great start and look forward to your support in bringing peace and a measure of comfort to this family in need.
In order to commit to the sponsorship process, we hope to raise $30,000 of our $50,000 goal by the end of May 2016.
It is the goal of three Kingston-based Alliance churches to sponsor a Syrian family within twelve months. Bayridge Alliance, Kingston Chinese Alliance and Kingston Alliance churches will commit to raise a total of $50,000 that will pay for the family’s shelter, household food and other expenses. This is an exciting time for our community and we hope you will journey with us!
