Word has come that the Syrian family of seven sponsored by the Shelburne Area Refugee Sponsorship Committee is expected to arrive in Montreal Saturday and in Shelburne soon thereafter. A small contingent of the group is being organized for the arrival as "welcoming committee" at the Stanfield Intl Airport in Halifax.
The family includes two parents, three sons (14, 16 and 17), an eight-year-old daughter and a 74-year-old grandmother. The family fled the besieged Syrian town of Aleppo, which has been in the news this past week as a central point of the battle between forces loyal to president Bashar al-Assad and Syrian rebel forces. Russia and the U.S. have accused each other of bombing raids in the city this week. The family has been living in a refugee camp near Beirut, Lebanon.
The teens will attend Shelburne Regional High School, where staff has been preparing a support plan for what they expect will be specific needs of the Syrian youngsters. The young girl will be going to Hillcrest Academy.
The Shelburne Area Refugee Sponsorship Committee – calling themselves 875.SHARES - has been hard at work this past week preparing a five-bedroom home on Water Street for the family. The house has been patched and painted and scrubbed throughout and has been outfitted with furniture, bedding, appliances and kitchen ware.
Other refugee support groups have formed in Shelburne, Barrington, Chester, Bridgewater, Hubbards, La Have, Liverpool, Lunenburg, Mahone Bay and Yarmouth. The Shelburne/Queens County Catholic Church Refugee Committee is sponsoring a second Syrian family in Shelburne.
Financial support comes from the federal government and from funds raised by each sponsoring organization. The 875.SHARES group has raised more than $30,000.
Besides housing and furniture, the sponsor group has arranged for computers, tablets and smart phones to help the family stay in touch and for clothing, transportation, health and dental care and English as a Second Language training for everyone in the family.
For more information or to donate, visit the 875.SHARES website at http://shelburnearearefugeesponsorship875shares.weebly.com/. The site includes a link to the CanadaHelps 875.SHARES donation page. CanadaHelps instantly generates an electronic receipt to each donor.
A fundraising auction with the "Family Treasures" theme has been scheduled for Feb. 20 at the Lion's Hall in Shelburne.
Auction items can be dropped off at 180 Mowatt St or 188 Harriett St during the week before the auction.