In the coming months around 3,500 Syrian refugees will be getting resettled in the Lower Mainland as a part of our new federal government's promise to help 25,000 of them become permanent residents of Canada. Fleeing terrorism and living conditions not many of us can imagine, these new members of our community are going to need all the help they can get. Sponsoring a family isn't exactly an option for most of us living in this expensive city of ours - $20,000 is the cost - but there are others ways we can all help, and we've outlined a few below.
1. #findfivethings
Vancouver Instagrammer Jaymi Sharon launched a mini campaign yesterday encouraging people find five things in their home that they can do without, that someone else might need. In her words, "I'm just one person, but if we ALL pitch in, we CAN make a difference; so please use the hashtag, and spread the love... Let's show them a truly Canadian welcome!! We all have too much stuff, so the idea, is to give what you already own. Start small, pick a room, and then just #findfivethings ...Easy, right!?! Now, go find five more!! Personally, I'll be going through my clothes next, seasonally appropriate of course...ooh, then my winter accessories...I'm on a roll now!!"
Once you collect these five things (or ten, or fifteen) you can drop them off at...
[UPDATE: the dropoff centre for donations is FULL UP and is no longer able to receive donations. We've been told "All centres (even all shelters in Vancouver) are completely maxed out and we're struggling to find somewhere to gift all of these donations still piling up", so you'll have to go with numbers 2, 3 and 4 on this list if you want to help!]
2. Help the Immigrant Services Society of BC
Since 1972 this organization has been offering help to people who are new to Canada. This wave of Syrians coming will test their limits in terms of bandwidth and they could use al the help they can get. Donate money or your time to them as a volunteer. Learn more HERE.
3. If you work at a startup, participate in #Startland
Startland is a coordinated response by the Vancouver Startup community to help support refugees. A key challenge for people resettling in BC will be finding jobs and training, and connected with that is equipment and workspace. Many of the refugees are highly skilled, and 35 per cent of them will be young people under 18. They think that a good way to welcome people to Vancouver is to help make it a soft landing, where people can get the resources and training they need to find worthwhile employment in the tech community and find their feet as entrepreneurs in a new city. At the same time, new entrants into this sector fill a critical skills gap in Vancouver.
They're partnering with the startup community to provide:
- Training in coding, software and/or design for 60 people
- Workspace for 50 people
- Laptops for 110 people
#Startland aims to raise the balance of funds through private and corporate donations and sponsorships in order to provide free tuition for participants.
Founding partners of this project are Version One Ventures, Wantoo, and Living Labs at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
Learn more and sign up to offer your support HERE. In the coming months Startland will be blogging on V.I.A., sharing the stories of the refugees they're working with, so stay tuned for that.
4. Be human and welcome these fellow humans to your city.
The very least we can do is simply welcome the Syrian refugees with open arms and a smile. These will be new members of our community. New Vancouverites. One day many of them will be Canadian citizens. Imagine if you had to leave Canada and walk to Utah with nothing but a backpack of your belongings because the situation here was so dire for you that you had to flee for your life, with no idea if you'd ever be able to return. Imagine how much it would mean to have help from the people living in the place you fled to. It would mean everything.
