Refugee hero helps Windsor region fill skills gap

Guelphbusinessman JimEstillhas spent $1.5 million sponsoring 58 Syrian refugee families responding to what he calls "probablythe greatest humanitarian crisis of our lifetime."

• SPECIAL PROJECT | I Am a Refugee
• GuelphCEO JimEstillsponsoring 50 Syrian refugee families

The president and CEO of DanbyApplianceswas in Windsor on Friday sharing his story at a workforce summit that focussed discussions on a skills gap that hascompanies scrambling to find ways to train workers for in-demand jobs.

"Jim is a great example of the business community stepping forward and leading by example on integrating immigrants into our workforce," said Justin Falconer, manager of inter-governmental partnerships at Workforce Windsor-Essex, the group organizing Friday's event.

Estill eventually built up a refugee support program, made up ofvolunteers who helped what ended up being 220 refugees integrating into Guelph community. He ran the operation like a business with directors leading each portfolio, such as transportation and housing.

"We built a network of furniture distribution, food distribution andjobs, ESL ... but government refugees did not have that support group," Ellis told CBC News.

So, he expanded his operation and made it available to all refugees.He wanted hissponsorship program todemonstrated to other business leaders how they could do the same.

"If you can run a company with 800 employees, you can run a volunteer organization with 800 employees," he said.

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Falconer also wants Estill'sstory to stand as an example of how any business leader can help refugees, while finding ways to help them fill the skills gap that has been a problem in the Windsor region.

"If we had more business professionals stepping in and helping to integrate Syrian refugees into our economy, it would be great because they bring with them really great skills," he said. "Immigrants can be an important part of bridging that skills gap."