Rotary pledges £2,000 for Syrians coming to Lochaber
FAMILIES due to arrive in Kinlochleven after fleeing their war-torn homeland are to receive support from the Rotary Club of Lochaber.
Following a request from Re-Act Lochaber, the club has agreed to show its backing for the Highland Council’s (HC) proposal to re-house four Syrian families in the area by providing financial support.
At their meeting on March 8, the club pledged to donate £250 per family and to ring-fence a further £250 per family for further support.
The cash will be used for household items and other essential goods to help the families find their feet.
The council’s plan to welcome the families to Lochaber was announced in December last year. This will be the second group to arrive in the Highlands as part of a commitment made by the HC to house 25 to 30 Syrian refugees before 2020.
Following the relocation of five families to Inner Moray Firth last summer, Kinlochleven was found to be the next most suita- ble place to house more arrivals based on capacity for housing, schooling and health care.
The families are expected to arrive soon and Voluntary Action Lochaber (VAL) has already started to recruit volunteers to support and welcome them. These volunteers will work with the incoming families for up to three months to help them with their resettlement and integration with the village community.
Rotary president Paula Ross explained: ‘These families are fleeing from five years of bombing, hunger, killing and war. Their children are traumatised and frightened.
‘We readily welcome them to Kinlochleven and we had no hesitation in awarding this funding to Re-Act Lochaber to help address the awful predicament these innocent refugees find themselves in.
‘Our club’s ethos is to promote peace the world over. We raise funds from the Lochaber public and those funds go where the need is greatest. Helping these families escape the conflict and join us in Lochaber is a worthy use of our funding.’
Lorraine Wheelan, from Re- Act Lochaber, expressed appreciation of the ‘ very generous and kind gifts from the local Rotary Club to the Syrian families’.
The funds earmarked for these families is just one of the many grants made available by the Rotary Club of Lochaber. At its February meeting, a request from Lochaber Women’s Aid for money to buy child car seats was accepted and £ 300 was awarded. It has also shown interest in supporting Strontian Community School Building Limited in its plans to build a community- owned primary school in Ardnamurchan.