help | johnageddes

As a result of my last blog entry, friends have responded with information about a local organization that is working to help Syrian refugees come to Canada – Kingston area in particular.

The group recommended by two of my friends is the Four Rivers Presbytery at Seeley’s Bay.

Lori Rand reports:

A small group of us here in Kingston are mobilizing. We are partnering with a local organization that has brought one family to Kingston in July, and are in the process of getting ready to receive another family at the end of September. They are currently in a bunker in Lebanon. Learn more about who they are and their story here.

This incredible work has been done by Dawn Clarke, a Minster at the Perth Road United Church, and a team from the Four Rivers Presbytery in Seeley’s Bay, and the Kingston Islamic Society. They still need $25,000 to make this happen – to sustain the financial one-year commitment to the current family, and have the funds for the second family. The hard work of receiving approval from Citizenship and Immigration Canada is already done, but missing link is the financial resources.

Here’s where you can donate. This money goes directly to getting this family to Kingston and supporting the family that just arrived. If you are more comfortable writing a cheque, information can be found here in the left hand column.

Rick Cairns adds this information:

John, I can assure you that aside from the cost of printing some pamphlets and setting up a website, this group is putting every single dollar raised toward sponsoring and settling these families.
An overpaid CEO, you ask? In fact, Save A Family From Syria is a 100% volunteer group.
As far as having “a concrete plan in place to actually bring a refugee family or families to Canada”, you’ll be pleased to know that one family is here, with children starting school next week, and another family (with 4 children) will be arriving in the last week of September.
It is the intention of this group to continue to sponsor more families in the future.

I have reviewed all this and made a donation to this group. I will await other responses to see if there are more local groups doing something similar. I encourage you to look into this one, however, and open your hearts and your wallet to help them achieve their goals. It’s the Canadian way, is it not?

Once again – Here’s a quick link where you can donate right now using a credit card to a local group actively sponsoring Syrian refugee families to come to Kingston area. Tax receipts are issued for donations to this cause.

I would like to think that there is something that I could do to help the Syrian refugee situation that seems to have suddenly burgeoned into a major humanitarian crisis. Of course, this is not really the case. The situation has been escalating for months, if not years, and the bandaids that the western world has applied to this gaping wound have done little to save the thousands who are scrambling for safety and security or the many who have already died in their attempts to find freedom for themselves and their families.

It is almost embarassing to see our Canadian electioneering politicians using this as campaigning opportunities. I am definitely not a Conservative or Harper supporter, but our collective anger toward the current government, expressed as “why has our Canadian government done more already?” is counterproductive and also answered by the reality that most of its citizens, you and I, have been somewhat oblivious to the problem, sidetracked by the millions of our tax dollars that are being spent to investigate and prosecute Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallen. Pathetic, isn’t it?

I am not that confident in the promises of any of the political parties running in the upcoming Canadian federal election. They all promise more. Those promises are a bit hollow given past government aid and the obvious logistical legal hurdles that any refugee or immigrant has to jump to get into Canada. We are not the country with open arms and hearts that we would like to think we are. And it doesn’t matter if individuals are willing to donate to local initiatives to help bring refugee families to our communities if the government red tape is impeding that.

I have looked at several charity websites but can find no specific plans that would assure me that my donated dollar is going directly to help a refugee family from Syria. I have written a letter of inquiry to one local initiative but received no response yet. I have found a couple of websites of groups that say they are motivated to help Syrian refugees but exactly how they plan to do it or what their financial is to accomplish this is not evident.

In the past I have donated to the Humanitarian Coalition but I think that this is appears to be a clearing house for donations to Care Canada, Oxfam and Save the Children. They take their cut for promotion and it would seem to make more sense to select the other charity directly and donate to it without the 15% cut that this group takes just to be a relay. FYI, in 2014, Care Canada had a revenue of over $100,000,000, 31% of it from government. It spent over $35,000,000 in salaries (one is over $250,000) and another $4,000,000 on consulting and professional services. Oxfam had revenue and expenditures in 2014 in the realm of $23,000,000 with four employees making more than $120,000, $1,800,000 in fundraising expenses and about $650,000 in professional and consulting services. I run an unrelated charity funding infrastructure work in Africa and I know that admin expenses are definitely necessary in order to carry out the charitable work. I am also aware of the need for accountability to donors and disciplined accountability for expenditures. I think that folks should take some note and be aware of where exactly their money is going when they donate to a charity. You can search for current information on any registered Canadian charity on the CRA website ( http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/lstngs/menu-eng.html) It is worth a look.

I wonder how I can best help people fleeing from Syria as refugees.

Now.

Please help me by suggesting a registered Canadian charity with a track record of spending at least 80% of their money directly on their charitable programming (in this case, the direct support of a refugee family or families), don’t have a CEO making $100,000, and have a concrete plan in place to actually bring a refugee family or families to Canada (not just the will to do so). I will be happy to investigate it, lend support and encourage my friends to do the same if I can be assured that my support will be effectively spent.