Syrian Refugee Sponsorship Challenge
In 2015, the staff and lawyers of Goldblatt Partners began raising funds to privately sponsor a Syrian refugee family. We challenged other law firms and organizations to do the same, and worked with the Law Society of Ontario to develop a system to accept donations.
We held fundraising events to raise the money we needed for the sponsorship. These events included: a silent auction; a number of high calorie “Monday Fundays” involving pies, samosas, crêpes, Halloween tricks and treats, and assorted bake and chocolate sales; a trivia night, a dreidel spinning contest; and a Carnival week (which included a Mini Putt competition, a “Crash into Krash” paper airplane contest, and an Office Pong tournament).
Some of our fantastic clients also helped with fundraising, as did our families, friends and colleagues in the legal community, and a Calgary folk rocker.
By November 2015, we had raised enough money to start the application process. In February 2016, we were tentatively matched with a Syrian family. We filled out more forms, found an apartment, and (impatiently) waited for wheels of the immigration process to turn. In October 2016, the family we sponsored arrived safely in Toronto.
Now, almost 10 years later, they are all doing fantastically well. They became Canadian citizens a few years ago and remain our friends to this day.
