The Sechelt Seniors Activity Centre has been approved as a sponsorship organization for a Syrian refugee family and the centre has already started the paperwork to welcome a family of five to the Sunshine Coast.
“We heard about them through a member who has a relative in Jordan,” said Joanne Rykers of the seniors centre. “We made some contacts and realized that they would be a very worthwhile family to sponsor.”
The father in the family is a doctor and the mother is a teacher. The children are aged eight, 11 and 13 and the family speaks a little English.
While the seniors centre has been approved to sponsor the group, the family itself must now go through interviews, background checks and medical exams before their move will be approved.
“There is no reason to think that it won’t all go well,” Rykers said. “They are very well educated and the kids are in school and they know some English. There’s no reason to think it won’t be just fine, but the whole process takes time.”
The seniors centre was told it takes eight to 10 months from the start of a sponsorship application to a family arriving in Canada, so the centre expects to see the family on the Coast sometime in April or May next year.
“It’s a good time for them to arrive,” Rykers said, noting it will give the children time to get used to the area before they start school in September.
The seniors centre membership decided they wanted to sponsor a Syrian refugee family last fall, when the refugee crisis was front-page news.
“A group of us here were talking about what could we do and we’re in such a lucky position here,” Rykers said. “[The seniors centre has] lots of facilities. Budget-wise, finance-wise, we’re in good standing and we felt we had so many resources to offer that we thought it would be a worthwhile project even though it’s not the norm for us as an activity centre to get involved in.”
The membership voted to provide $36,000 in funding to the sponsored refugee family to help them make it through their first year on the Coast and fundraising to fill that budget is now underway.
The seniors centre has announced a raffle for a seven-day cruise for two anywhere Holland America sails. The raffle tickets are $20 each and available at the centre at 5604 Trail Ave. daily between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. or at Trail Bay Mall on Saturdays (Sept. 10, 17 and 24) between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
The draw for the cruise will happen at the centre on Oct. 1 at 3 p.m., during the centre’s annual open house that runs from 1 to 4 p.m.
People can buy raffle tickets right up until the draw takes place, Rykers said, noting the cruise tickets don’t ever expire, “so the person who wins can go anytime.”
In the future the seniors centre also plans to hold garage sales and a gala evening with a silent auction to raise the money needed to support the new Syrian family for one year.
If you would like to get involved in future fundraising efforts, contact Rykers at 604-885-8910. You can also keep up to date with what’s going on at www.sechelt
activitycentre.com.
There are already two Syrian families living on the Coast, thanks to sponsorship by Christian Life Assembly and Crossroads Community Church in Gibsons.
The church groups brought a mother and her adult son to the Coast at the beginning of July and a family of four to the Coast at the end of July.
