A St. Stephen's Catholic Church committee is only about $4,000 short of its fundraising goal to bring a Syrian refugee family to Olds.
The committee has been told it needs to accumulate about $35,000 to bring the family here. Last month, they held a fundraising gala in the church hall, which raised about $10,000.
That money, combined with funds accumulated earlier, brings the total in the kitty to more than $30,000.
Cathy Wright, a member of the church's social justice committee – the group spearheading the fundraising drive – says they're now hoping to raise more money with help from the Knights of Columbus on Nov. 20.
“Our Knights of Columbus are doing a pancake breakfast after mass and they have told us that they will give the proceeds of the breakfast to us and we can do another silent auction there,” she says.
Wright says organizers were amazed with how well the fundraising gala in the church hall went.
“It was much better than we'd even hoped for, so we're quite happy,” she says.
“When we were selling tickets, we thought, ‘oh,' the weather wasn't great and we thought, ‘well, it may not be as busy as we thought it would be,' but we had around 100 people come -- 100 tickets were sold and a few more that just showed up. So it was quite full. A beautiful night – we really enjoyed it.”
John Palardy of the social justice committee says the money raised would be used to help cover relocation expenses for the family for one year.
Once the committee has obtained the funds needed for the project, it will contact Catholic Social Services in Edmonton to say they're ready to sponsor a Syrian family.
Palardy figures once they make that call, they'll learn who their family will be about a month later. He says it could take eight to 12 months for the family to arrive here.
The committee began working on the project this past spring.
"We thought, 'well, it may not be as busy as we thought it would be,' but we had around 100 people come."CATHY WRIGHT MEMBER ST. STEPHEN'S CATHOLIC CHURCH SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE
