Mohammed Al-Khaleel, 41 and his wife Diana, 34 pose with young daugthers, Rooa, 10, Raghaed, 8, and Rahaf, 6 at a meet and greet at Sarnia's YMCA January 8, 2016 (BlackburnNews.com Photo by Briana Carnegie)Mohammed Al-Khaleel, 41 and his wife Diana, 34 pose with young daugthers, Rooa, 10, Raghaed, 8, and Rahaf, 6 at a meet and greet at Sarnia's YMCA January 8, 2016 (BlackburnNews.com Photo by Briana Carnegie)
Sarnia

New Network Helps Local Refugee Families

There are 15 refugee families currently being privately sponsored by local community and faith groups and the project co-ordinator with the Sarnia Lambton Local Immigration Partnership says that could increase to 20.

Stephanie Ferrera says they've created the Lambton Refugee Sponsorship Network comprised of sponsoring groups and social services agencies.

They, in turn, have partnered with four local donation centres and eight religious organizations which can receive monetary or gift card donations.

"We wanted to develop a number training sessions for those working firsthand with newcomers to the community to mitigate any issues of post traumatic stress disorder and to help better settle," says Ferrera .

She says they are still in need of volunteers.

More information can be found at Sarniagives.com or the Lambton Refugee Sponsors Network facebook page.

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