The head of the United Way London and Middlesex is praising Londoners for their generosity and support of Syrian refugees resettling in the city.
Less than a month ago the United Way, in collaboration with the Cross Cultural Learner Centre (CCLC) and the City of London, launched LondonUnitedforRefugees.ca. The online campaign's goal is to raise funds for the more than 800 refugees arriving in the city.
Since then, United Way CEO Andrew Lockie has been touched by the outpouring of support from the community.
"The response has been extremely positive. We have had all kinds of people, who haven't made a donation in some time, stopping by our office with $1000 gifts. We have had many, many people logging onto the website donating there," says Lockie. "It's a new thing for us so we really didn't know how people were going to respond but the response has been really, really positive."
The total amount of money donated through the online campaign will be made public during the 2015 United Way campaign goal achievement announcement on March 5. During that time the agency will also say whether it hit its $9.1-million goal for the campaign.
"London and Middlesex is comprised of very caring and compassionate people," says Lockie. "This situation has struck a chord in many people. It's made them feel they want to be apart of a very welcoming community for these refugees. They want to be able to do something and we have created a methodology by which they can trust the right supports will be there at the right times for the long haul."
London has welcomed approximately 100 government-sponsored Syrian refugees to the city since LondonUnitedforRefugees.ca was established. Two more families, totalling ten people will arrive by Friday.
So far, London charities haven't needed to tap into the funds raised through the website, but that will soon change.
"We are understanding through the needs of our partners that the immediate needs of the refugees arriving are being met," says Lockie. "Our fund is going to be really helpful for the longer term needs, things like language training, employment training and re-certification, and trauma counseling for people who have been through such dreadful circumstances. So we know those needs are coming."
The United Way has a preset, fully transparent allocation procedure for distributing funds raised through its programs to charity groups and agencies throughout the city.
