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' 8- PORT PERRY STAR - ee): October 22, 1996 Church prepares welcome ~ for Bosnian refugee family By Heather McCrae Special to the Star In two weeks time a Bos- nian refugee family is ex- pected to arrive in Port i= Perry to begin a new life. It was almost four months "ago when the Prince Albert and Port Perry United Churches chose to sponsor a family from the war-torn former Yugoslavia. Initially' the two congregations planned to sponsor a refu- gee family, but now are in- viting the community to get involved too, making it a combined effort. Two women working closely on the New Begin- nings project are Pat Bird and Lindsay Gibson. Ac- companied by an inter- preter, Pat and Lindsay will be meeting the family upon their arrival at Pear- son Airport in Toronto. "We'll need a bus," Lind- say said. "Everyone wants to come with us to greet these people to their new home." Since the Port Perry Star reported on the pro- ject a month ago, the com- mittee has received some donations of furnishings and household articles. Now that Canadian Immi- gration in Oshawa has . NAPOLEON , ca;~and their sons, confirmed a R Tughe fami- ly will be arriving soon, the demand for fore as- sistance is greater than ever. A church family is'going to house the Serbian- Orthodox family of four for the first two weeks after their arrival. But now the search:is on to find a cen- trally-located apartment or house that can be rent- ed fora year. "We really need accom- modation with at least two bedrooms," Pat said. If anyone has reserva- tions about renting a dwelling to a refugee fami- ly, you can be assured the two congregations will be responsible for the family for a year and will be pay- ing the rent. ilenko Samardzic, along with his wife, Ruzi- 16- year-old Igor and Bojan, 12, are immigrating to Canada after having lived in a refugee camp. Leav- ing their war-torn home behind, the Samardzics have been waiting patien- ly for that magic moment of escape and dreaming about coming to Canada, a land of peace and opportu- nity. According to informa- Exclusive PHAZER Logs dent. tion supplied by Immigr: tion authorities, Milenko has worked 18 years as an electronics technician in an airplane factory and Riziea has over 12 years experience as a dressmak- er. Igoris the only member of the family who can speak English, and even then his vocabulary is quite limited. Sponsors of refugee fam- ilies provide them with fi- nancial aid for a year and help the family integrate into a Canadian lifestyle. The goal at the end of the sponsorship year is to have the family self- supporting and indepen- "It's up to the sponsors to take care of housing, clothing, furnishings, food, language and job training, employment, health, personal support and funding for a year," Lindsay said. 2 "It be a big bill to fill, but we're eager to doit and want to include the com- munity, making it a town _, project." Among the items the committee is short on are' beds. + "We're short on singles or bunk beds," Pat says, adding dressers are also in CTT \ and furniture for a refugee family from Bosnia & XE Prince Albert/Port Perry United Churches are and now want to expand the project and munity project. Please read on how you can demand. A kitchen table has been donated, bwt3 there aren't any accompa- nying chairs. The UCW has looked af- ter most of the other kitch- en need. Of course, there's al- ways a need for monetary assistance. To help in this area, Mike Tobin, a well- known professional pho- tographer is holding a slide show in the Et auditorium on Monday, Nov. 4. Starting at 8 p.m. 'snowy owl, rare peregrine } OVERRIDGE FIREPLACE WAREHOUSE 180 Casimir St., Port Perry . (905) 985-0715 the admission rice $2. This money will be put to wards the New Beg nings fund and assist © oP tantly starts new life in Port Perry Mike spent three weeks! in Cambridge Bay on Vic- toria a his t summer, capturing coi shots of the falcon, pacific loons and other wildlife. Mike is no stranger to the Argtic. Having been Direct Vent High Efficiency Gas Stove Model GDS50