FW: CALL to ACTION - i)Relief Kits for Refugees and ii)Support for MCRS

[Andrea Charette]

It appears that most of the links in my original message yesterday were broken.
The have been fixed in this version:
Faculty, Staff, Students, and Friends of the Faculty of Arts and Affiliated and Federated Institutions of Waterloo:

While Canada intends to open its doors to 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of this year, hundreds of thousands of refugees will remain in camps this winter.  Others will flee without sponsorship arrangements in place, and arrive in Canada intending to claim refugee status once here.

We invite you to support an on-campus initiative to assist refugees in camps and refugee claimants newly arrived in Canada. Please consider participating in one or both of the following:

1)    A Relief Kit and Blanket drive: Mennonite Central Committee<http://mcccanada.ca/> accepts donated items in order to assemble and ship relief kits and blankets to people facing crisis and displacement.  You are invited to purchase a blanket and/or items for these kits, and drop them off in one of the following designated areas by December 18th:
HH 248 - ENGL Common Room
HH 338 - PHIL lounge
PAS 2439 - Arts Undergraduate Office
PAS 3021A - PSYCH mailroom
ECH 1206
ML - second-floor elevator area
CGR - Coffee Bar
REN - Ministry Centre
SJU - Library and Funcken Café
180 King St. - MPS project room
Stratford Campus - front administrative desk

All donated items will be taken to the MCC Material Resource Centre at 50 Kent Street in Kitchener to be assembled into kits and shipped to the regions of highest need in January.  Please limit your donations to the specific items identified in the attached poster or here:
Relief Kits<http://mcccanada.ca/get-involved/kits/relief>
Blankets<http://mcccanada.ca/get-involved/kits/blankets>

2)    A donation to Mennonite Coalition for Refugee Support<http://www.mcrs.ca/>:  MCRS is active in Waterloo Region, receiving newcomers to Canada and supporting them through the refugee claim process.  A donation to MCRS is eligible for a tax receipt, and will help to fund programs related to settlement support, legal assistance, translation services, family reunification, and advocacy.

With advance thanks for participating in this initiative, which we hope will bring assistance and comfort to those less fortunate than us this winter.

Lamees Al-Ethari
Definite Term Lecturer
Department of English Language & Literature

Andrea Charette
Faculty Relations Manager
Dean of Arts Office


p.s. Why us?  Why this?

We (Lamees and Andrea) were invited to speak about refugee issues at a campus event in September (Waterloo Women Wednesdays), Lamees as an immigrant and Andrea as a board member of Mennonite Coalition for Refugee Support.  Since that talk, and the related piece in Inside Arts<https://uwaterloo.ca/arts/faculty-staff/inside-arts/october-2015-issue#refugee>, we have been asked by numerous people how they might help refugees.  Lamees knows first-hand the experience of living in a war-torn country and is motivated to bring warmth and comfort to those who will find shelter in camps this winter.  Relief kits and blankets are needed, and MCC<http://mcccanada.ca/> has a local presence with international reach and reputation, which will help to facilitate getting our donations into the regions where they will have the greatest immediate impact.  Additionally, Andrea is aware of the valuable work being done right here in Waterloo Region, working with newcomers to Canada who benefit from resettlement support and advocacy.  MCRS<http://www.mcrs.ca/>  is experiencing increased demand on its programs and services, a demand expected to increase further in the coming months.  MCRS receives no government funding and relies primarily on private donations and community grants in order to meet its budget.

Other local agencies involved in refugee support include, but are not limited to: Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre<http://www.kwmc.on.ca/>, Reception House<http://www.kwrcentre.ca/>, ShamRose for Syrian Culture<https://www.facebook.com/ShamRoseforSyrianCulture/timeline>,  Welcome Home<http://welcomehomekw.ca/>, and YMCA Immigrant Services<http://www.ymcacambridgekw.ca/en/immigrant-services/Immigrant-Services.asp>.

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