Open Doors Spiritual Matters: The Beach Cares fundraiser in support of refugee family will feature musical evening on Sept. 21

By MICHAEL VAN DUSEN

ST. AIDAN’S IN THE BEACH

Come and meet an amazing group of regular people, who live in the Beach.

No! “Amazing regular people” is not an oxymoron.

The people are consultants, office administrators, retail workers, bankers, students, and retired individuals living in the Beach … but most of all, they care about others in the world. ‘Matter of fact, they call themselves The Beach Cares (TBC). And they do great things.

The occasion to meet these amazing people is a free concert at St. Aidan’s church on Saturday Sept. 21, starting at 7 p.m.

The Beach Cares began in 2015 when the Syrian refugee crisis hit the front page of newspapers around the world with the image of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, a Syrian child whose body washed up on a beach in Türkiye.

The group represents the congregations of St. Aidan’s and Beach United churches, and the Beach community at large.

They believed then, and now, that a group of people, working together, can make a huge difference to families displaced by war.

The world’s refugee situation is staggering – 44.3 million at the end of 2023, according to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees.

In light of this, what difference could they make? Turns out that they can make a huge difference in the lives of at least some people.

Between 2016 and 2023, The Beach Cares sponsored three families and a young woman.

At the end of January of 2024, a Syrian family of five, who had been stranded for eight years in a United Nations refugee camp in Lebanon, not far from the border with Israel, came to Canada, sponsored by The Beach Cares.

At times they had lived on grass, because there was so little food in their camp. Even getting to the airport in Beirut was fraught, since Hezbollah was operating near the refugee camp and Israel had been shelling intermittently.

On their arrival in Canada, after more than 28 hours of travel with only a few snacks, they were famished. Their hunger became the opportunity to encounter two Pizza Nova pizzas and cans of Canada Dry ginger ale at 11 p.m. that day. Maybe not the greatest feast, but welcome!

Since coming to Canada, the three young adults have been going to school, and attaining high grades in English and high school equivalency in mathematics and Canadian history. The father and son have volunteered regularly at community meal programs at both Beach United and St. Aidan’s.

Meanwhile, the consequences of no dental care in refugee camps affected several members of the family, requiring root canals and dentures, not covered under the Government of Canada’s interim health plan.

The Beach Cares undertook to cover the costs because the pain in their teeth and gums affected both their health and well-being.

One volunteer has been central to lining up dentists and transporting the individuals to the appointments. The dental work is ongoing and has been supported by kind dental practitioners who provided their services at greatly reduced rates.

The Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) program, by which the family came to Canada, loaned the family the money for the flights from Beirut to Istanbul and Istanbul to Toronto, and now the loan has to be repaid. The total cost is almost $10,000.

While The Beach Cares is not responsible for repaying it, we know that the family is in no position to repay this amount of money on top of paying rent, food and basic services, like public transit.

When The Beach Cares agreed to sponsor the family, it had raised most of the funds needed to support the family, according to IRCC’s minimum standards.

But the reality of dental care, travel refunds and setting people up to succeed after the sponsorship with “basics”, such as cell phones or computers for going to school, has pushed the group to do more “fun(d)-raising”.

To date, the Beach community has been tremendously generous in providing hospitality, clothing, furnishings, and finances. The owner of the apartment where the family live agreed to take $300 less each month for rent, as her contribution.

The Beach Cares is just about “there” in terms of having the funds to repay the travel and finish the basic dental work, but there is still an opportunity to celebrate the great work of regular folks in the community, meet the family… and raise the several thousand dollars that are still needed. Any extra money raised will go to help the family transition to independence once the formal sponsorship ends at the end of January 2025.

On Saturday Sept. 21, The Beach Cares is hosting an evening of music at St. Aidan’s (Queen Street East and Silverbirch Avenue) starting a 7 p.m.

The tunes will range from country and folk, rock, and, as a special treat, the family has agreed to sing a song in Arabic.

There is no cost for the concert; but donations will be welcome and can be made in cash, by cheque or square.

Oh, yes. And you will have the opportunity to meet some amazing regular people, members of The Beach Cares.

— Michael Van Dusen is the Deacon at St. Aidan’s Anglican church and a co-chair of The Beach Cares.