Owen Sound is preparing to welcome another refugee family to our community.
The Owen Sound and Vicinity Ministerial Association is preparing to bring a Somali mother and her two young daughters to the city possibly as early as this December.
Nancy Umbach is with the Refugee Sponsorship Task Force and says the Canadian government considers this family to be at extreme risk, so is moving quickly to get them out of an Egyptian refugee camp as quickly as possible.
She says they need to raise about 12 thousand dollars to help cover the cost of housing the family for the first year they will be living in the city.
The Anglican diocese already has contributed four thousand dollars to the effort.
Umbach also would like any Muslims or people who speak Somali to get in touch with them so they can help this family adjust to life in Canada.
She says speed is of the essence in this matter because single women in Africa are in extreme danger.
Umbach says once the family arrives in Owen Sound, they will stay with a volunteer family until they can rent an appropriate apartment and then the call will go out for furniture and other household items.
She says anyone who wants to help in this effort of bringing the refugee family to Owen Sound can get in touch with officials at St. Thomas Anglican Church.
Umbach says as with the last refugee family who arrived last year, she is confident people in the city will open their arms and make this mother and her two children feel very welcome.
