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A few families and church groups in my Canadian network have adopted syrian families. It has been a truly positive experience to hear all the ways people are of

A few families and church groups in my Canadian network have adopted syrian families. It has been a truly positive experience to hear all the ways people are offering to help (food, shelter, jobs, transportation, socializing, childcare). And of course the handouts of delicious syrian food in return. On a trip to Halifax I bought some chocolates from a syrian business, and they later ended up on the news for their success. This is the Canada that I love. And that positivity and love absolutely trickles down through your network of peers. It's about people helping people. Does anyone else here have stories? I hope one day that America starts a similar program to make amends for the awful effects of Trump's executive orders on immigrants, americans, and travellers stuck in limbo. It occurs to me that many Americans are crowdsourcing for healthcare of their citizens, while Canadians are crowdsourcing to welcome new people to their communities. I don't mean to offend, but it seems like moving up maslow's hierarchy to me.

throwaway0684 10y ago
> America starts a similar program to make amends for the awful effects of Trump's executive orders on immigrants, americans, and travellers stuck in limbo. America, as a nation, is under no obligation to 'make amends' for anything -- least of all executive orders which place the interest of American citizens first.
mpatobin 10y ago
During the last federal election the refugee crisis was a campaign issue. I gave up social media for a while because the amount of hatred I was seeing towards the refugees was making me feel sick. When I got back on facebook I saw that my small town was planning to start a sponsorship group. I went to see how I could help and we formed a committee to bring seven refugee families to our town. I was able to help out by setting up the website, social media and helping with online donations (the group was mostly an older crowd). To date we've raised over $100k, resettled 5 families and positively changed the lives of everyone involved. All the men are working and half their wives have jobs too. Some of the children are going to school for the first time in their lives and they're learning English quickly. Its incredible to see them playing and laughing after everything they've been through. I recently moved to another city but I feel so lucky to have been a part of something that had such an impact. And I miss the coffee one of the women used to make :-/

throwaway0684 10y ago

> America starts a similar program to make amends for the awful effects of Trump's executive orders on immigrants, americans, and travellers stuck in limbo. America, as a nation, is under no obligation to 'make amends' for anything -- least of all executive orders which place the interest of American citizens first.

mpatobin 10y ago

During the last federal election the refugee crisis was a campaign issue. I gave up social media for a while because the amount of hatred I was seeing towards the refugees was making me feel sick. When I got back on facebook I saw that my small town was planning to start a sponsorship group. I went to see how I could help and we formed a committee to bring seven refugee families to our town. I was able to help out by setting up the website, social media and helping with online donations (the group was mostly an older crowd). To date we've raised over $100k, resettled 5 families and positively changed the lives of everyone involved. All the men are working and half their wives have jobs too. Some of the children are going to school for the first time in their lives and they're learning English quickly. Its incredible to see them playing and laughing after everything they've been through. I recently moved to another city but I feel so lucky to have been a part of something that had such an impact. And I miss the coffee one of the women used to make :-/