Healthy Communities • Immigrant Services

Welcoming Syrian Refugees

15 December 2015 - by ymcablog

How our YMCA is Welcoming Syrian Refugees.

My office has received many calls from you - caring members, partners, volunteers, and members of the general public -- who are determined to help Syrian refugees settle here and make Canada home.

Already, our teams in YMCA Newcomer Services and YMCA Employment and Community programs have been working hard to organize their services in support of the recent and expected arrivals and teams across our YMCA have been thinking about how we make other supportive YMCA programs and services available to these new Canadians.

We want to take this opportunity to clarify for you the programs and services the YMCA of Greater Toronto already has in place that will be of great benefit to Syrian refugees and their sponsor communities. Beyond our existing services, we also want to share with you some plans we have about how to further utilize our resources – both human and physical – to extend a warm and supportive welcome to these new Canadians.

To that end, we have detailed our current YMCA program and service offerings that will benefit Syrian refugees and their sponsors. We also have some special initiatives we are working on: amongst our staff we’ve put out a call for volunteers with specific skills (Arabic speakers), we will be making our spaces available for free for meetings and gatherings to groups who are supporting Syrian refugees, on a case-by-cases basis we will exam ways to provide financial assistance, and we’re asking for your ideas about how our YMCA might help even more.

This will be the first of a number of communications on this issue, so please watch this space as our plans to welcome Syrian arrivals continues to evolve.

One thing is clear, our response to welcoming Syrian refugees will be an Association-wide initiative, and your support and enthusiasm will help make our contribution count.

Thank you,