Sponsored refugees arrive in Canada either through a private sponsorship (which CRC churches have been involved in for decades) or government sponsorship. Anita Booy joins us from Sonlight CRC in Regina, SK to share about the impacts of the pandemic on private sponsorship groups, and Dena Nicolai from World Renew’s sponsorship program shares about her work with government sponsored refugees.
Speakers:
Dena Nicolai serves as Chaplain and Refugee Support Mobilizer with the Christian Reformed Churches of British Columbia. In this role, she seeks to offer a ministry of presence to refugees newly-arrived in Canada (primarily Government-Assisted Refugees and Refugee Claimants) and to equip and empower church groups who are supporting refugees. She also holds the part-time role of Refugee Program Associate with World Renew, supporting the Private Sponsorship of Refugees in B.C.
Anita Booy is a life-long member of the Christian Reformed Church. Anita is married; she and her husband raised their four biological children before becoming foster parents in 2007. While fostering children, they adopted five of them, one who has Down Syndrome, and continue to care for two long term foster children. Anita’s experience with advocating for the needs of her children prepared her well to become a support person for refugee families. Anita became involved in sponsoring refugee families in 2014 and has helped to bring a new family to Regina, Saskatchewan each year.
Cindy Stover serves as a Justice Mobilizer for the Christian Reformed Church in Canada.
See all of the resources we’ve curated for World Refugee Day 2020
https://www.crcna.org/PublicDialogue/issues/refugee-justice/world-refugee-day
Links mentioned in the video:
World Renew’s Refugee Sponsorship Program
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