There arenít many residents of Athabasca County that have been here since they were born. People have come from as near as Westlock or Thorhild and from as far away as another country to settle here.
Everyone has different reasons ñ the scenery, the schools, a job, the community ñ but people come here from different areas and, together, make the communities what they are. If the Colinton St. Andrewís Anglican/Zion Lutheran Church has its way, there will be another family coming thatís going to call Athabasca home.
This family is a group of people who have experienced something that few can imagine ñ they have made the perilous journey to escape from war-ravaged Syria. The church is going through a private sponsorship, which means itíll be asking people in their congregation and in the community to step forward and do ìeverything that they can.î
Theyíll also be asking the community to do what it does for every new person who comes into the area: welcome them with open arms. Although the family has had a different life than what most of us know, that doesnít mean that they wonít need to be shown around town and introduced to the groups. In fact, because of the differences in culture and experience, they might need it a bit more help than the average immigrant.
The church isnít the only group in town thinking of bringing in a refugee family ñ theyíre just the ones that are farther along than the rest ñ which means that there might be several families coming into the community that will need all the help they can get.
There will be people complaining that we should help our own before we help people coming in from other countries. However, the two arenít mutually exclusive. We can help the people in the community who are struggling as well as the new people coming in with nothing.
We can all work to make this community the strong, diverse and inclusive place we all know it can be.
