Around Town: Refugee housing needed! Brian McConaghy, Carolyn Arends . . .

Newly arrived refugees are in desperate need of housing. Photo from Journey Home.

James Grunau sent an email to his partner churches last week regarding the desperate housing situation for many newly arriving refugee claimant families. Grunau runs Journey Home, which works with refugee claimants. He says the church community has already begun to respond, but he would love to hear from anyone who feels they might be able to help out.

Following is his plea to anyone who can offer housing:

Hello to our Church Partners,

Over six years ago we faced a crisis situation when 492 Tamil refugees arrived in Vancouver and Journey Home was asked to take 10 families. We turned to God and to the Church – and God provided. At this time we are moved to do the same with a current developing crisis.

Yesterday I received an email from Mario of Inland Refugee Society, the organization where we receive most of our referrals for newly arriving families. I am passing his email on to you for you to read directly (see below) and get a sense of the desperation he, and we, are facing in this critical time of refugee claimant families arriving to “no room in the inn!”

Is this the time for the Church to again respond to Jesus’ words “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25)? I am making an urgent request, if you are able, to make this desperate need known to your congregation in whatever format you use and provide the opportunity for God’s people to respond.

Maybe they can provide an unused basement suite, a spare room in their house, an empty apartment or . . . .  This could be for a limited period of time or for an extended time or for long-term. There is the possibility of “paid rent” being available once people have been able to register for Income Assistance after submitting their claim. Journey Home would be happy to follow up on all inquiries, answer questions and provide information.

Please make my contact information available: [email protected] / 604.329.8112

We look forward to what God will do in blessing both the giver and the receiver. Who knows what could transpire! Thank you for whatever you are able to do and for caring!

James Grunau

Hi amigos, I am writing you with the purpose of getting support and practical suggestions. At this point I am desperate for the numerous new families we are helping.

Because we have already filled all the beds of our housing providers we were able to find only very temporary accommodation (two – three days) for most of the families. Currently, we have more than 40 single clients at Belkin House, three at Union Gospel Mission and six at Inasmuch; three families at ViFinday, three families at Fraser side, two families at Niza House, one family at Spring House, one family at a private house, one family we are paying at Helping House (they don’t have more space), we have also filled all the spaces at Kinbrace and Journey. ISS Welcome at Drake Street is closing, so they are not accepting new families.

Presently, we have the following families that need to be housed tomorrow:

1. Couple + three children from Afghanistan who live in our Richmond house, which we will close on February 22.
2. Couple + two children from Syria YWCA until tomorrow
3. Couple from Turkey, at St. Claire Hotel
4. Couple + one son, at Helping House until the end of this week, we’re paying $50/day for almost two weeks.
5. Couple + two children from Libya, YWCA until tomorrow
6. Mother with child from Afghanistan, 2400 Motel paid by the Canadian Red Cross
7. Couple from Iraq, staying in a hotel until the end of this week
8. Couple + two sons from Mexico, staying in a hotel until the end of this week

Besides these families, we have to find accommodation for five single men [Iraq (two), Afghanistan, USA and France] and one single blind woman from Iran.

 As you may understand we really don’t know what to do for helping these 21 adults and 11 children to get a more permanent house. I don’t know either to whom I have to approach to seek solutions besides God, but you guys.

Sincerely,
Mario Ayala, MBA | Executive Director
Inland Refugee Society

Grunau says Journey Home has already begun to see a response, with people offering space in their homes – and one of the families he listed was actually housed in a church home over the weekend. Since Ayala wrote this note he has had two additional families to care for. One of his biggest challenges is housing families with four or five people.

Brian McConaghy in the Courier

I featured Brian McConaghy less than a month ago, as he was lined up to be a keynote speaker at Missions Fest. But it is very good to see him getting broader coverage in the Vancouver Courier, where Pat Johnson is featuring him and his work with Ratanak International in Cambodia, in a two-part series.

In the first part (February 9), Johnson wrote:

The creation of Ratanak International emerged from a series of events that McConaghy insists involve the hand of God.

“From a Christian standpoint, I believe it was God communicating clearly: Don’t worry about this stuff, I’m doing the heavy lifting. You just do what you’re told,” he says.

Operating a growing international charity while continuing his gruelling day job as an RCMP forensics guy, McConaghy’s path took another turn while he was working on the grisly Pickton case. It would change the focus of his work in Cambodia to the sexual exploitation of young people – and make him even more certain that something divine was guiding his work.

Go here for the full story. And go here for part two.

Carolyn Arends for DRIME

Carolyn Arends is a very accomplished musician, with 12 albums, two Dove Awards and three Juno nominations under her belt. But even though she lives in Metro Vancouver, we don’t have many opportunities to see her perform these days – at least not ones I hear about. There are probably a number of reasons for that, including her role with Renovaré Institute for Christian Formation for the past couple of years.

Fortunately, though, she will be performing at North Langley Community Church this Saturday (February 18) in a benefit concert for DRIME.

An international ministry based out of Langley, DRIME “shares the love of Jesus on street corners around the world through drama and one-on-one conversations. DRIME has active teams in Canada, Mexico, Paraguay, Brazil, Benin, Togo, Kenya, Thailand and Hong Kong.

Briefly noted

Kevin and Julia Garratt spoke about their imprisonment in China following 30 years of work there, and their eventual freedom, at Broadway Church February 12.  Here is the video of their conversation with pastor Paul Moores. (I posted on the Garratts a couple of months ago.)