Join us on Friday, November 9, at 8:00 pm (following Kabbalat Shabbat services at 6:30 and potluck supper at 7:30) for a JED (Jewish Education and Dialogue) Talk presentation and discussion on "Refugee Sponsorship" with members of the Shalom Group. OrH members Patti Lenard, Gary Stein, David Mendeloff and Arielle Singer will share the work done by the Shalom Group in sponsoring and helping settle a Syrian refugee family in Ottawa.

The Shalom Group is a collaboration of Jewish congregations in Ottawa, who worked together to raise the money needed to sponsor a refugee family to the city. We welcomed our newcomers in June 2018, and in doing so we reunited two families who had been separated for years. As a group, we shared the “settlement” jobs among us, from raising money, finding accommodation, finding English language classes and doctors for the family. Our work continues until June 2019, but the connections we are making with these Canadians will continue forever.

Patti will make some introductory comments about how the private sponsorship of refugees program works in Canada and how this model of welcoming refugees remains unique in the world. Gary will speak about the challenges of filing the application that we made to sponsor the family. David and Ari took on different roles in the settlement of the family we welcomed and will speak about their roles.

  For a list of upcoming talks visit the JED Talks page: