Summerside sponsor group on alert for refugee family's arrival

The refugee sponsor group "Syria to Summerside" is still waiting for word of when the refugee family it's hoping to sponsor will arrive.

• Refugee financial support: Setting the record straight

• Syrian refugees' home shown off in Summerside

• P.E.I. housing search for Syrian refugee families going well

The group set up a house and put money in the bank for a family, and said it'seager for "putting compassion into practice."

"Everything here is all ready to go, so we're just expecting them a call any day," said Rev. Arthur Davies, a minister at Trinity United Church and a member of "Syria to Summerside."

In fact the group raised $60,000 -- enough money to sponsor two families for a year, and had a second family lined up too. But Davies said they've been told that family has gone somewhere else.So the group is in the process of trying to get another family.

The group would welcome a family regardless of how the government can connect them, he added.

"Whatever process we need to follow, we are willing to be part of that. If we can eliminate refugee camps, one family at a time then we want to be part of that."

"We need to be part of making a difference in their lives, in our lives and in our country's too," said Davies.

Meanwhile, resettlement agencies in some larger Canadian cities are finding it tough to locate housing for the sudden influx of refugees, and have asked the flow to be slowed.

Immigration Minister John McCallum said Thursday during this pausemore refugees will be diverted to smaller cities in provinces that are keen and in which housing is ready and waiting.

But there's no indication that any of those families could come to P.E.I. as a result.