LATEST NEWS:
This young Mum and her family have now been in Canada for 3 + months. She says, “We love being in Canada. We feel safe here. We are most appreciative of the support from St. Francis.” She is beginning English lessons in March now that her two older children attend school. One of the children had a Canadian birthday this month and so we sent a card and gift to celebrate.
Thank you to everyone who has made a contribution to this fund so far, to help provide for them for the remainder of 2022. We are grateful for your gifts but we still do need more.
To remind you here is the story of this family...........
Do you remember being 26 years old? Finishing your education, perhaps? Starting a family? Starting a business? Possibly thinking of buying that first house?
Can you imagine if, by the time you had reached 26 this had happenened to you?
- Your spouse had been murdered for standing up to terrorists
- Your daughters had opened a package that exploded in their faces, scarring them for life
- You had fled the country of your birth to avoid certain death
- You had spent a year in a refugee camp in a foreign country, dependent on others for the necessaries of life and sharing a single mattress with your children
- You had traveled alone with those children to a faraway place you’d never seen and where you didn’t speak the language, to rejoin family members you hadn’t seen for years
- Your mother had been attacked after your arrival because of her religious beliefs
- You had seen your baby daughter convulse with seizures that nobody could explain
This is what the 26 year old mother of the Refugee Family we are supporting here at St. Francis -in-the-Wood has endured in her short life. But rather than give in, she has fought to keep her family together, to find a safe home and to start building a new life. She and her 3 daughters now live in a clean, safe, warm apartment in Surrey, far from her native land but close to her mother and brothers. With the help of her family and the parishioners of St. Francis-in-the-Wood Church, she has begun building a new life. She is so grateful for all that her family, St. Francis-in-the-Wood and other organizations and individuals have done to help.
But we need to do more. St. Francis-in-the-Wood has committed to supporting this young woman for the rest of 2022. Funds we provide will be used to pay for rent, utilities, medicine, English classes, food, household items, clothes and more. To date our parishioners have raised $13,846.00 – thank you to everyone – but we need an additional $21,000. Can you help?
If so please donate in one of several ways here