Raising funds for sponsored refugee family

History:
In 2014, Canada had pledged to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees. With the help of "Settle In," my friends and I wanted to assist Canada in meeting its pledge by sponsoring a Syrian family.

In December 2014, "Settle In" (thanks to the generosity of friends and family) raised approximately $28K to help sponsor a Syrian family so that they could start a new life in Canada. During this time, "Settle In" was introduced to a couple, Felek and Serwan (husband and wife), and with the assistance of "Life Line Syria" we were accepted by the Govt. of Canada to sponsor their application to Canada. Please note that no members in our group is related to the family being sponsored.

During the three years that it has taken for their application to be approved, we have been in constant contact with Felek and Serwan through Facebook, Skype and other means, which has helped us build a strong friendship. We have helped them update their resume, advised them on courses to take, felt their joy when Saween (their adorable baby girl!) was born in Iraq. Over the three years, we have also helped them financially (approximately $4K) when they did not have money for rent and day-to-day living expenses during their time as refugees in Iraq.

Present-day update:
As noted above, after 3 years of our sponsorship application, our family is finally moving to Toronto on December 4th and we could not be more excited. However, it’s only a few weeks away and there is lots to do before they arrive. 

"Settle In"'s responsibility as a group is to financially support this family over the next 12 months. This responsibility includes; finding and furnishing a home, supporting the family in securing full-time work, purchasing warm clothes, providing groceries, transportation, utilities and arranging all other life essentials - which we take for granted!

Our ask:
Right now we have a total of $24K to financially support the family.    As you can appreciate, the cost of living in Toronto and the addition of a baby girl, our current funds will not be sufficient to meet their needs over the next year. We are reaching out to ask for financial help so that we can comfortably settle in the family. The money raised will be spent on their necessary expenses for December and all of 2019.
 
To illustrate the financial crunch we are facing, the housing we have secured for the family costs $1,600 monthly ($19,200 / annually), which means we are left with $5,000 (or $420 for all other expenses monthly). Sadly, this will not be enough which is why "Settle In" is attempting to raise an additional $10,000 to be able to comfortably provide for Felek, Serwan and Saween.


Controls around the funds raised:
The $24K raised previously  is deposited in a TD bank account (held in trust for the family). There are 4 signatories (all members of Settle In) on this account including myself. No disbursements can be made from this account without a combination of two signatures. The money is used solely for the purpose stated above (settling in and paying for the family's expenses). All donations made to this campaign will be settled into this account. Once the family arrives in Toronto, we will  set up another bank account in the name of the family and on a monthly basis (over the 12 month) transfer the funds from the TD bank account noted above into the family's account. to assist them in meeting all their monthly expenses (rent, utilities, groceries, transportation and all day to day living costs).It is important for GoFundMe's platform to make sure that everyone understands that 'Settle In' does not carry an official bank account and the trust account does not carry a HST/GST, therefore the account needs to be treated  as if an individual is withdrawing the donations on behalf of the family.


To those who have already donated in the past, we wanted to say thank you so much. To those who are willing and able to donate now, please consider giving to this family - we promise it will go a long way and it is a beautiful, worthy cause that will help this family start fresh in Toronto (while leaving everything behind).

If you're interested to learn even more about our family, please see below. 
 
Serwan , Age 31 (husband), Felek, Age 23 (wife) and Saween, Age 18 months (daughter)

 The couple and their family lived peacefully in Syria until fleeing in 2011 to Turkey and then later Iraq once the demonstrations against the regime turned violent. Prior to this, the couple were both studying. Felek was in secondary school with a goal to study medicine one day. Serwan was studying at Damascus University specializing in English translation. They both have been separated from their immediate and extended family since 2012. Their home town of Kobani was eventually taken over by ISIL and Felek has witnessed her home completely destroyed by the bombings. Serwan was forced to leave his family and education behind for safety and to evade the constant fear of being forced into combat. He had been arrested, detained and interrogated for not wanting to enlist in the army and was fortunately later released.

Making the journey through border crossings separately, each of them have survived harrowing and dangerous conditions. As a refugee claimant in Iraq and sole supporter of the family, Serwan has been able to do some construction and translation work. The region (in Iraq) has also had chronic unrest and Serwan has been assaulted and robbed during his time there. 

Despite this, they remain gracious, hopeful and willing to help others. The three of them are really excited to start a new, peaceful chapter of their lives in Canada. Let's help them do so.



Thank you again.