As you may know, the Archdiocese has asked us as either individuals or as a parish, to host Ukrainian families fleeing the war in the Ukraine. The numbers are stunning. Canada has received 676,000 applications; 378,000 applications have been approved and 115,000 Ukrainians have arrived. (Nov 15) The challenge now is accommodation.
Our parish refugee committee is committed to hosting a Ukrainian family but the challenge we have run into is the cost of rental accommodation in the Toronto area. The committee currently has funds to house a family for only three months. This does not provide much stability for newcomers while they get settled, learn English and find employment. We would like to provide a longer time frame for accommodation and support for the newcomers we will sponsor to provide more stability and support. To that end, we have been looking for private rental accommodation and are also looking to team up with other parishes who might like to support our efforts. We are also asking for your assistance by asking you to contribute to a second collection the weekend of Nov 26 & 27. Hopefully we can, together, live the gospel of Mathew.