Nova Scotia Muslim group United for One raising $200K for refugees

Members of Halifax's Muslim community have united to raise $200,000 to sponsor six Syrian families in Nova Scotia.

United for One was formed by a half-dozen people with a focus on helping refugees who already have relatives settled in Nova Scotia.

"We've been getting a lot of phone calls from people saying, how can I help, how can we assist?" said Basim Sobeih, a manager with Novacorp Properties in Dartmouth and a founding member of United For One.

"But then we get many other phone calls saying: I have my father, I have my uncle, my sister who are overseas stuck in refugee camps, are you able to get them here? Well that's really our job: to unite families together."

Sobeih speaks Arabic and has been approached by the military to work as a translator once people begin arriving from the Middle East.

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The United For One Association is working under the umbrella of the Immigrant Settlement Association of Nova Scotia, so it has a pathway to bring in refugees.

Sobeih says his group plans to apply to the federal government for its own sponsorship holder agreement, onesimilar to what the Conference of Atlantic Baptists and ISANS have in place.

$40,000 in one month

United For One is also applying for status as a non-profit group.

Sobeih says United for One is open to different sects within the province's Muslim community, as well as people of all faiths and races who might wish to participate in their effort.

"We held a first information session in the large mosque on Chebucto Road," Sobeih said. "It was hosted by ISANS. One thing that was amazing to me was that over 80 per cent of the attendees were white Christians from churches."

The small refugee support group has raised more than $40,000 in only one month, and it's about to ramp up efforts to attract more volunteers and more money.

The group is inviting the public to attend Friday's Halifax Welcomes Syrian Refugeesevent at the McInnes Room of the Dalhousie Student Union building at 7 p.m.

Tickets cost$20. Guest speakers include two people who have visited the refugee camps in the Middle East as well as local, provincial and federal political representatives.