Help Reunite This Family

Help Reunite This Family

My name is Melodie McCullough and I am helping a Kurdish family living in Lebanon reunite with family members now living in Peterborough, Ontario.

The Kurdish family – a mother, father, and three young children – have been living in Lebanon as Syrian refugees for a number of years, while working and attending school there.

I have been a member of a New Canadians Centre’s support group for a Syrian family who came here in 2016 and I consider them part of my family. The mother in Lebanon is the sister of our Peterborough family.

They would like to come to Canada because recently the Lebanese government has begun “repatriating” - which means deporting - Syrians back to Syria. If this were to happen to this family, it could very well mean torture and death for the father. Time is of the essence.

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/middleeast/2023/05/03/syrian-refugees-fearful-as-lebanon-steps-up-deportations.html?source=newsletter&utm_

The family is now living in a basement with the help of a kind Lebanese man who is protecting them. The children have not gone to school for quite some time.

I and others have formed a Group of Five, which is a path to private sponsorship through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Before we can apply for sponsorship, we need to raise $32,000 which will show the Canadian government we will be able to support the family during the first year they are here.

We have been fortunate to have already raised a significant amount of this required sum, and we continue to fundraise in other ways (lemonade stands, car wash, raffles, all with the help of our Peterborough Syrian children, aged two to 14). We can really use any amount you can afford.

PLEASE HELP US REACH OUR GOAL AND BRING THIS FAMILY TO SAFETY

If you would like further information, or would rather send money directly through email transfer to me, please contact me at [email redacted]

Thank you.