Guelph’s Refugee Sponsorship Forum has a new director. Naomi Klaas will oversee the coordinated, community-wide effort to bring 76 Syrian refugee families to the city, while ensuring that Guelph opens mind, heart, and wallet to newcomers.
Klaas, a consultant in the field of international nutrition who spent over 15 years living in South America, will replace Jaya James in the volunteer role.
James is returning to her job as a policy analyst with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. She took a leave of absence to oversee the coordination of the massive project.
Guelph entrepreneur and philanthropist Jim Estill, the president and CEO of Danby, donated $1.5 million of his own money to sponsor 50 families.
“Our job continues to be supporting the sponsorship groups, who are sponsoring families” said Klaas. “Preparing them, helping them with logistics, helping them develop the social network that families will need.”
Last year, hundreds of local volunteers and thousands of donors of goods, services, and cash quickly banded together in anticipation of the imminent arrival of dozens of Syrian families. That arrival didn’t happen as rapidly as expected. Instead, families have trickled in.
So far, 23 Syrian families have settled in Guelph, including three families on Tuesday night.
Klaas said the time of arrival of the remaining 53 families is unpredictable at this time, but three to five families are expected each month. A new campaign to raise $100,000, called Campaign 76, has begun, with the funds going primarily to administrative costs to ensure a smooth transition for newcomers.
“Jaya has done an absolutely fantastic job of pulling together a system to support people who are going to sponsor families on a volunteer basis,” Klaas said, adding that the effort involved recruiting, training and organizing over 800 volunteers, and linking them with opportunities to serve the newcomers as they arrive.
“We haven’t used all of these human resources that are prepared and waiting,” Klaas said. “The families are coming more slowly. In some ways I think it is easier, because it allows us time to work with a smaller number of people to really help those families become better situated.”
Klaas said many local people are waiting in the wings, eager and ready to help.
“We still want you, we still need you,” she assured those people. “We just have to be patient for those families to come.”
Klaas said she will be linking with other sponsorship groups across the country to share resources and know-how, and will investigate whether there are people, organizations, and groups in Guelph that can act as long-term sponsors and supporters of newcomer families.
“So that Guelph would become really known as a very welcoming community for international people,” Klaas said.
The process of settling for the 23 families that have arrived has not been without challenges, Klaas said.
“There are language challenges, culture challenges, work challenges, and often health challenges,” she said. “They are dealing with a lot of coping in a short amount of time. And they are learning to walk through it, and the sponsoring groups are learning to walk through it as well.”
Supports and services are in place locally to help families, and volunteers are ready to step in to help, particularly with social support, she added.
Campaign 76, said Jaya James, is an effort to raise funds to support what the Refugee Sponsorship Forum will be delivering over the next 18 to 24 months.
“It has a goal of $100,000 to make sure we are able to provide the training for free, the recruitment and screening, and the deploying of volunteers,” she said.
She added that grant money has been secured recently from a number of sources. The Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec have given $18,000 in Campaign 76. The Rotary Club of Guelph South has chipped in $2,000 and the Rotary Club of Guelph-Wellington has also given $2,000.
The federal Canada Summer Jobs program has given a grant of just over $10,000. Those funds will help support three summer positions, including a communications advisor, an information management person, and an employment advisor who speaks Arabic.
“All these services will be free for sponsorship groups,” James said.
The public can donate to Campaign 76 by going to the Canada Helps website at www.canadahelps.org and searching for First Baptist Guelph. Once there, select the Refuge Sponsorship Forum. Or mail a cheque to First Baptist Church, 255 Woolwich Street, Guelph, N1H 3V8. Indicate ‘Refugee Sponsorship Forum’ on the memo.
Donors are being challenged to make a one-time donation of $76, or $1 for each of the 76 families.
