Knox Refugee Sponsorship 

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR SPECIAL APPEAL

      Many Canadian churches play an active role in refugee sponsorship and support and have for decades.  This is true in Vancouver including on the Westside where several churches work together to sponsor UN recognized refugees facing a wide range of threats and persecution.  Just recently, Knox United, Pacific Spirit United, Point Grey United, and the Point Grey Inter-Mennonite Fellowship welcomed the first of three Syrian family members in a co-sponsorship with the Rainbow Refugee Committee.

      New federal rules make these kinds of sponsorships more difficult.  In the past, churches and others did not need to have all the funds needed to fully finance the entire sponsorship period before a refugee could  arrive safely in Canada and they could include in kind donations.  Now, we must have all the funds in hand even before submitting an application.  The delay involved increases the risks and hardships for refugees waiting in refugee camps.”

      A refugee family facing extreme risk and hardship has recently come to our attention. A member of the Pacific Spirit United Church congregation spent roughly six months during 2022 working for an international aid organization in Cox’s Bazaar refugee camp.  Cox’s Bazaar is a notorious camp in southern Bangladesh described as “heaving, unsanitary, and crime ridden,” where some one million Rohingya refugees eke out an existence having been driven out of Myanmar in 2017 by the military in a “clearance operation,” better described as both ethnic cleansing and genocide.

      In Cox’s Bazaar, this PSUC member re-connected with a Rohingya family whom she had known previously when she worked with the Rohingya community in Rakhine State in Myanmar.  The father speaks English and is in the same professional field.  He had, at great risk to himself, assisted her and her organization with translation and related activities.  Now, like so many Rohingya, he, his wife and five children are forced to live in precarious refuge at Cox’s Bazaar.

      As an educated and English speaking person, the father and his family are targets for human traffickers and criminal gangs operating in the camps.  They believe they can extort money by kidnapping the children and holding them for ransom.  Getting the family out of this situation as quickly as possible is urgent. 

      During the past several months, our churches have been able to raise roughly half the funds the federal government requires us to have.  To raise the remaining funds quickly, Knox has made this the focus of our Lenten Special Appeal, and we are reaching out beyond our own members to the broader community.

 If you can help with a contribution, whatever the amount, please do so TODAY by clicking the button below

Help Sponsor a Rohingya Family – Knox Refugee Sponsorship Special Appeal Donations

Or via an e-transfer to knox5600@telus.net  

Or by sending a cheque to Knox United Church,
5590 Balaclava St, Vancouver, V6N 1L1. 

Please write Rohingya Fund in the message box of the e-transfer or on the cheque and provide your name, address and phone number so your contribution ( of $25 or more) can be receipted as a charitable donation. 

We know you have a lot of choices when it comes to donating, and we are so grateful that you chose to help Knox United Church sponsor a Rohingya family.
Every donation in any amount is needed and very much appreciated.

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