Fundraising is underway to bring a family from Afghanistan to Newmarket, thanks to the work of a sponsor committee now known as Newmarket Together.
“Newmarket Together is a committee created by concerned community members of Newmarket, St. Paul’s Anglican Church,Trinity United on Main, and Anglican United Refugee Alliance. Newmarket Together has the urgent and collective goal of sponsoring a lovely family which has recently been able to flee Afghanistan,” the group said on Facebook.
The family they are working to sponsor is that of Newmarket resident Abdul Hanif.
His brother, Samiullah, as well as Samiullah’s wife and three young children fled Kabul, Afghanistan in February and are currently in Delhi, India.
“It’s not easy to just leave everything, house and car and everything, behind and just leave like that. It is a big decision but you would only do it when someone is desperate,” Hanif said of his brother’s situation. “They know how to find them and a gunman will look like a regular person but then he’ll just shoot someone in the head.”
The Newmarket Together committee is working to reunite Hanif with his family members by bringing them to Newmarket.
Hanif will provide accommodations and help support them financially once they arrive here, but it is a long road until then.
Newmarket Together needs to raise $23,000 by Dec. 15 to move forward with their sponsorship application.
There are three ways to support the group.
You can send an e-transfer to St. Paul’s Anglican Church at [email protected] or you can write a cheque to St. Paul’s Newmarket Together. Cheques can be mailed to 227 Church St., Newmarket, ON L3Y 4C5.
The church will be overseeing all financial contributions and records for the fundraising campaign.
There is also a GoFundMe site set up by the Newmarket Together Team where you can donate online to help them reach their goal.
According to the site, so far they are just over halfway, having raised $12,558 out of the $23,000 needed.
The committee first came together at the end of this summer to begin the sponsorship process.
At that time, Hanif said he was grateful for the help from the community.
“There is a wonderful, supportive community we have in Newmarket, so welcoming. I didn’t know many people and everyone is so kind, sending messages saying they can help me and my brother,” he said.
