With the recent media coverage of the refugee crisis in Syria, our Casa Maria mission has received much attention. Ruth Hennessey, our director, has shared our expectations and given excellent interviews on T.V and radio both locally and provincially.
Our local catholic school board agreed to partner with Casa Maria for the purpose of relocating a family who has recently fled Syria. These are members of a family whom we sponsored in June 2015: Lelas, her daughter Jena and her son Karam who now reside in Toronto.
Our school board initiated Sept.18 as a teacher and student $5.00 dress down day/crazy hat day in 37 schools with the proceeds going to Casa Maria. Our Toronto refugee family visited a number of our area schools where students had an opportunity to meet, listen and question them about life and experiences.
It was amazing to hear how similar their lives were to ours, until war broke out. At the high school over 100 students listened in rapt attention to this family, intermittently interrupting with cheers and applause. The smiles on the faces of these “new comers” said it all in response to the students` show of support.
Furthermore, since then there has been much interest shown locally within the community. Casa Maria has been busy with speaking engagements and informational meetings to interested groups. Our local Bishop McGrattan, who is no stranger to the refugee cause, has encouraged parish groups within our 4 deaneries to consider working together to offer refuge. Special additional collections at the masses will be encouraged in the parishes to assist those who have taken on this challenge.
Our call for help is an awesome task, but in the work of Mother Teresa “what we do is a drop in the ocean but without it the ocean would be less.”
Guest Blogger: Barry O’Brien, Chair of the Casa Maria Advisory Board
