Project Hope on track to accept 100 refugees
Catholic Archdiocese says it has raised $1.7M to help bring Syrian families to the GTA
The Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto is halfway toward meeting its goal of raising $3 million to bring 100 Syrian refugee families to the GTA.
The archdiocese announced Project Hope in early September in response to the overwhelming wave of Syrian refugees who have fled their homeland due to conflict and persecution. It asked its parishioners and 225 Catholic churches to step up and help raise money and form volunteer sponsorship committees over 100 days to help with the settlement of the refugees once they land here.
Fifty days into the campaign, the archdiocese has raised $1.7 million and 50 volunteer sponsorship committees — made up of individuals from a community group, church or corporation — have come forward to sponsor refugees.
But another 50 volunteer committees are needed as well as another $1.3 million, said Martin Mark, director of the office for refugees at the Archdiocese of Toronto, who recently returned from Jordan where he and a team of volunteers interviewed Syrian refugees for resettlement here.
On this trip, the group successfully identified 100 refugee families to be resettled in the GTA. It typically costs about $30,000 to sponsor a family of four and help them settle in over the first year.
“Today marks the 50th day of the 100 day project which includes identifying refugees and matching them with sponsoring groups,” said Mark. “We’ve only matched 50 families. We still need more groups to come forward and sponsor refugees.”
Mark stressed the archdiocese isn’t just looking to the Catholic community for support, saying other faith groups, corporations and community groups are welcome to join the effort. “You don’t have to be baptized to help refugees,” he joked.
Mark said the Canadian embassy in Jordan went to unprecedented lengths to help his team and get the refugees cleared. “People may start arriving in early January,” he said.
The level of desperation and despair and the volume of new arrivals of refugees to Jordan are “unbelievable,” he explained. Hundreds and hundreds of families lined up to be interviewed by Mark and his team. “One million refugees in a small society like Jordan is overwhelming.”
Now back in the GTA, Mark and his team are hoping they can raise the additional funds and encourage more people to step forward to form sponsorship committees.
Said Mark: “We are ready. We did our job. If anybody is willing to help refugees or welcome newcomers, contact us. Let’s go ahead and do it.”
Mark said he was encouraged by the promise of the newly-elected government to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by Jan.1, but added many of the refugees are “extremely traumatized” and need preparatory care before they come to Canada.
To date, the office for refugees — which has a sponsorship leaseholder agreement with Ottawa to bring in refugees — has resettled 2,510 refugees. In 2013, it submitted resettlement requests for 72 Syrian refugees and in 2014, another 72 submissions were made.
So far, 120 Syrian refugees have arrived in Toronto through the office for refugees. As of September, the office had made resettlement requests for another 65 Syrian refugees.
“We are ready. We did our job. If anybody is willing to help refugees or welcome newcomers, contact us. Let’s go ahead and do it.” MARTIN MARK DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE FOR REFUGEES AT THE ARCHDIOCESE OF TORONTO