Tragic photo spurs donations
Aid pouring in locally
Ottawa aid and social service organizations say there has been an outpouring of support and concern for those seeking refuge in Europe, triggered by the image of a drowned Syrian boy whose boat capsized off the coast of Turkey.
At the Catholic Centre for Immigrants on Argyle Avenue, which has been taking dozens of calls from the public wanting to offer help, the biggest challenge is a lack of staff to “take full advantage of this opportunity,” said the executive director.
“Helping to organize sponsorships is a big part of our file anyway, so we’re hearing from people we haven’t heard from before who are interested in sponsoring (a family),” said Carl Nicholson.
“We helped to organize the sponsorship of 26 Syrian families to land in Ottawa, 84 people in the last 12 months. It’s something we do already, but now that there’s more interest, we are now trying to mobilize with our colleagues and friends to figure out what is it what we can do with all of this potential support. We’re not quite there yet.”
Aid organizations like the Red Cross and Care Canada are focused on providing relief assistance and psychological support in Syria and neighbouring countries for people affected by the violence and unrest that is spurring the mass migration, as well as in Europe for people going there.
“We are getting a lot calls about (what kind of ) humanitarian work is going on and how is the Red Cross delivering this assistance,” said Red Cross spokesman Chiran Livera. “And most importantly people are saying, ‘How can we help?’ We are encouraging them to visit our redcross.ca website or come to our office and make a donation specifically for this response.”
Gillian Barth, chief executive of Care Canada, called the public reaction “quite intense,” with approximately $13,000 raised in one day, at an average of $230 a donation.
“We’ve been fundraising and trying to get the word out on Syria for so long now, but clearly I think the events of the last 24 hours have really shifted that,” said Barth, referring to reaction to the widespread publication of photos of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi. “Canadians have clearly been moved by the images that they’ve seen on the news lately … so it’s quite amazing, people are really stepping up.”
Barth says the donations will go toward life-saving items like food, water, shelter and other urgently needed items like mattresses in refugee camps.
“So it’s trying to keep the conditions in the camps and nearby bearable, so people don’t have to be fleeing from that and into treacherous waters,” said Barth.