U.S. groups look to Canada to resettle refugees
Canada’s private sponsorship program allows churches, community organizations, and individuals to apply for resettlement for refugees. U.S. partners can help.
(The Christian Science Monitor) When Ed Wethli, a Pittsburgh coffee company owner, learned of a Syrian family in Saudi Arabia facing deportation back to their war-torn homeland, he felt he had to help.
He brought the couple and their two elementary-school-age boys to his home in December 2014. They applied for asylum and settled into an American middle-class suburb. But their extended family remained in harm’s way in Syria.
Then came the day that the photo of Alan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler who drowned when his family tried to reach Europe, circulated in September 2015. Wethli texted 60 friends and asked them to show up at his home that night; 20 did, and they founded Ananias Mission, a faith-based nonprofit supporting refugees. But they couldn’t find an avenue for private efforts to bring refugees to the United States.
