Saint John prepares to welcome more Syrian refugees

As Saint John gets set to welcome more Syrian refugees this year, efforts are ramping up to collect furniture and household goods in preparation of their arrival.

READ MORE: Syrian immigrants among new employees hired by Saint John garment factory

Although specific numbers have not been provided by the federal government, the YMCA of Greater Saint John says another two families, comprised of 12 people, are expected to make their way to the city in the next couple of weeks.

The YMCA helped more than 500 immigrants settle in Saint John as part of a government sponsored program that saw thousands of Syrians begin to leave their war torn country and make a new home in Canada at the end of 2015.

CEO Shilo Boucher said they’ve learned some lessons in the process of helping the 554 refugees that came to Saint John over the past year and they plan to use what they’ve learned to best assist the new families.

“Making sure that they have access to the health care services that they need, working closely with social development because that’s another piece of this puzzle and getting ready for when they arrive,” said Boucher.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Making sure that they have access to the health care services that they need, working closely with social development because that's another piece of this puzzle and getting ready for when they arrive," said Boucher.

The Lancaster Baptist Church has been a holding centre for donated household goods since last year and though donations haven’t stopped, they had slowed down.

READ MORE: Syrian refugee family excited to begin new life in Saint John

The church’s senior pastor Wayne Murphy said it was time to ramp things up again.

“We’d had a few families come through before Christmas and during Christmas and didn’t have as much here for them as maybe we’ve had for some of the families that would have come last year,” Murphy said.

But Boucher said helping the new Saint John residents settle into their community wasn’t the only thing they took away from the experience, it was what they learned from the refugees themselves.

“Definitely how to be gracious and how much we should appreciate what we have,” Boucher said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Definitely how to be gracious and how much we should appreciate what we have," Boucher said.

“Anybody who ever had any sort of issue with these folks being able to come to Canada, when they get up close and personal with these families and they get to meet them and they get to hear their stories of the hell that they’ve left, it changes their attitudes pretty quick,” Murphy added.