Our Implementation Strategy

December, 2015

Our sub-committee^[1] hopes to be partnered with another refugee family group before the end of the month (although JIAS has notified us that this may only be possible in January). We can only sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with JIAS and provide our funds to them once a family is identified and confirmed for us to sponsor.

In the meantime, we have made the necessary preparations for ultimately entering into the MOU and providing the funds when it is time to do so. Liz Bohnen will sign the MOU as “Elizabeth D. Bohnen, President, Board of Governors, on behalf of The First Narayav Congregation”. We can send our fundraised amount to JIAS by cheque, noting it is “for The First Narayav Congregation Refugee Sponsorship Fund” in the cheque’s memo line.

By the end of the month, the refugee sub-committee will have met to discuss possible settlement tasks, and find volunteers to take them on. The fundraising, in-kind donations, and communications sub-groups of our sub-committee will all be up and running by this time.

January, 2016

If not by December, 2015, hopefully by the end of January, 2016, we will be matched with a refugee family. Within a month of being partnered, we will likely have their refugee application sent to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and we will have a good sense of their estimated date of arrival. Refugee application processing and travel are generally expected to take 5 months.

Once we have this information we will be able to more easily prepare for the family’s arrival and address settlement needs (e.g. organize short-term and longer term housing, help register the kids in schools, address family’s medical and dental needs, sort out SINs and OHIP registration, etc.). Note: we already have volunteers for many of these tasks.

Spring/Summer 2016

The family will hopefully arrive by this time and we will begin our settlement activities.

2017

If the family arrives in Canada sometime in the Spring or Summer of 2016, the Narayever’s responsibilities as a sponsor group will terminate exactly one year later (or sooner if the family becomes financially independent before this point). Thus, our obligations to financially support the family should end by Spring/Summer 2017 at the latest.

[1] i.e. the refugee sub-committee which is a branch of the shul’s standing Social Action Committee.