We formed a team to welcome a refugee family – This is why

Since 2015, over 300 community members from Peterborough have joined us as volunteers in welcoming refugee families. These volunteers have formed over 30 support teams, providing assistance to new refugee families and individuals as they make Peterborough their new home.

Natalie Napier, Patricia Donnelly, and Tom Reader are three members from the “Near North Enders” Support Team that was created in October 2016 to support a new family from Syria.

Donnelly knew that Peterborough was a “very generous and lovely community [and] had been looking for something like this for a long time.” Her team’s leader, Natalie Napier found the opportunity to see the community come together just as moving as seeing their family integrate into Peterborough. “This was a great opportunity to call on friends and neighbours to do something together and I think its been a wonderful experience for the people in our group.”

We Need Your Help, Peterborough!

We expect to receive two refugee families from Syria at the end of this month: a family of 6 (parents with 4 children aged 11 to 24) and a family of 10 (parents with 8 children aged 1 to 15). Any help you can contribute as part of a volunteer support team will be vital to helping this family and more like theirs make a home in our community. For more information about volunteering on a Refugee Support Team, please contact Liana Honsinger, Volunteer & Event Administrator: [email protected] or 704-743-0882

Learn more about the Refugee Support Team Member role here.