Our first exciting steps
Earlier this week, Sandy and I and the Smith family got the first concrete news about their sponsorship status.
To set the scene, in the past year, there have been almost $31k in donations for their sponsorship, very nearly enough to pay for two people. In January we submitted documents to the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), who functions as a Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH) and has the authority to build a completed application for the Smiths’ entry into Canada. This was the first major bottleneck in the overall process, since the Smiths have to have a complete file built by an SAH, and SAHs can only open a limited number of files per year.
On Monday, we got an email that said that, subject to some conditions, we can go ahead with nominating the first two of the Smith siblings for immigration into Canada. We could finally get started.
This was only possible through the incredible generosity of our friends, family, and people who have been in the process before us. Seriously, this has been a group effort the whole way.
We were thrilled to get the news, because it meant that MCC thinks that the Smiths’ case is almost certain to get accepted by the Canadian government, when it is finally completed. The Smiths decided which two of them should be nominated first, since they feel like they are the best equipped to build a landing-pad for the rest of the family when they arrive after.
Sandy and I have our work cut out for us, since the training and paperwork start immediately. This stage is also a reminder that we need to expand the resources for the Smiths and we are on the clock.
These are our remaining needs:
We are in urgent need of two more people to step up and contact us about being a sponsor for the Smith family.
This means being brought in as part of the team, and being involved in the daily goings on once these two siblings finally arrive in 2-3 years. We are looking for people that have a heart for strangers, and can be dependable and welcoming. We met the Smiths as a part of our church, but we would welcome people of any faith background or spirituality.
This is not a trivial thing to ask for, but it is an opportunity to act in a compassionate way and change peoples’ lives almost immediately.
We still need money, but we are getting so close.
Our goal has always been to fundraise until all five of the siblings (plus one spouse that joined the family in Thailand) are in Canada together. Ultimately, this means that we are still tens of thousands of dollars short. However, for these first two Smith siblings, we still have a need of around $9k.
Just as a reminder, we fundraise in the first place because each refugee that is brought into Canada needs to have their first year’s living expenses paid for them by their sponsors. That’s $20k per person that will go directly to them so that they can afford to live somewhere and eat while they get their bearings.
There is still a long road ahead for the Smith family, but now that we have our first major foothold, it feels like the marathon has finally begun.
With every $5 or $10 donated, we are that much closer to getting them out of their dangerous circumstances and welcoming them as our neighbours. You can donate here: https://donorbox.org/100k-for-100km or you can transfer the money directly to Sandy or myself. We keep receipts of all transactions.
Please reach out if you are interested in receiving a tax receipt or helping to fundraise, and we can work on something together.
We would also be thrilled to welcome you as a member of our team, please contact us if you are interested or have questions.
Thank you so much for your support,
Kevin & Sandy
