Turkey/Syria Response
In wake of the 7.5 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey & Syria on February 6, 2023, our partners on the ground are responding. Please help us to respond in Syria by supporting children orphaned by the disaster. In Turkey, we are partnering with churches who are helping to provide basic supplies to their communities.
Ukraine Rapid Reponse
Since 2 days after the invasion of Ukraine, our partnership have been helping to support refugees and displaced Ukrainian people. We are sending dried food collected from the Gleaners and others, sending medications from Canadian drug companies (1 pallet costs $6000 to buy and $1500 to fly to Warsaw) and sending multiple 40-foot containers of supplies (medical, food, warm clothing, sleeping bags and other). We would also appreciate mattresses such as those found here
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How can you help?
If you are in the Victoria area, we are accepting donations of new warm socks, diapers, disposable razors, soap, deodorant, wet wipes, socks, toothbrushes and toothpaste at the Compassionate Resource Warehouse at 250-381-4483.
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If you are not in Victoria, please consider a financial donation of any amount. Write "Ukraine" in the comments.
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Helping Refugees and Others to Survive and Thrive During the COVID-19 Pandemic
ICROSS Canada helps with food, school supplies and medical/dental support. In Asia, the Middle East and Africa, we have assisted with bringing wellness and health to the effected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Children who have been affected by war often do not have access to preventative medicine such as vaccines. In one clinic that we ran in East Amman, not one child who came to our clinic had a record of vaccines.
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One of the major issues facing the population is the lack of sufficient coverage of childhood immunizations. For example, there have been outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases in the population that our clinic serves. The reason for this is that many children who moved into the area from Syria, Iraq, and other places in turmoil have not had any immunizations since the war began in their areas. As war in Syria and surrounding areas has now been ongoing for around a decade, many children have been born in the high-density tent cities in neighboring countries such as Lebanon. Some infants have missed vaccination all together, as they were born after the initiation of war and the subsequent migration.
Vaccines are available to the population free of charge via Lebanon’s public sector, or at a subsidized amount. A number of barriers have been identified by the families whose children have not received vaccines. These include cost of travel, waiting times, lack of documentation, distant priority, and stigma towards refugees at the vaccine clinic. Given the barriers, our team plans to develop a project to facilitate the vaccination process in order to reduce childhood diseases.