December 8, 2015
Toronto's Dewson Public School has raised money to sponsor a Syrian family. They've also sent the family a very Canadian welcome message - and the family sent their response.
Watch this sweet story here.
December 3, 2015
Kids welcome Syrian refugees with messages ‘from the heart’. More than 20 Toronto schools taking part in effort to make cards for refugees coming to Canada.
Read the Toronto Star article here
November 23, 2015
Sunalta School in Calgary kicks off its campaign to sponsor a refugee family in a novel way.
Watch the CBC newsclip here
November 22, 2015
A Toronto school's effort to privately sponsor Syrian refugees is encouraging other schools across Canada to follow in its lead.
November 21, 2015
Toronto school sparks support for refugees: parent volunteers at Dewson Street public school reached out beyond their own comunity to inform and inspire others.
November 18, 2015
October 27, 2015
1000 Schools Challenge is featured in Brock University's student paper. Take a look at it here.
October 26, 2015
Schools Welcome Refugees and the 1000 School Challenge are featured in the Education in Emergencies Working Group Canada blog. To have a look, follow this link here.
The Canadian Education in Emergencies Working Group (EiEWG) is an informal group of education stakeholders concerned with raising the profile of education as an integral part of the first phase response to emergency and protracted situations.
October 14, 2015
Exciting news as 1000 School Challenge member The Grove Community School and friends has been matched with a refugee family through Lifeline Syria with a family of ten expected to arrive before Christmas!
October 13, 2015
Article in InsideToronto.com about Dewson Street Jr Public School's fundraiser and the 1000 Schools Challenge.
October 6, 2015
People are reading about us in Russia! Marcus Gee's column on Dewson kids solving the refugee crisis has been translated and published in SVpressa.ru. Please take a look here.
October 5, 2015
The Dewson St Jr Public School community did it - they raised over $30k in less than 30 days. Congratulations to everyone involved. For more information about Dewson's campaign and progress, visit their website here. To get more schools involved in the 1000 Schools Challenge, please feel free to share this flyer here.
September 25, 2015
September 25
Globe and Mail article on kids at Dewson St Jr Public School and what they are doing to sponsor a refugee family.
September 21, 2015
Some stories from today's press conference at Dewson Street Jr Public School:
CBC Radio The World at Six (Go to 25:00 mark)
September 20, 2015
The Dewson School Community Refugees Welcome and #1kSchools4Refugees on CBC's Late Night News. Follow this link to watch (story starts at the 4:10 mark).
September 18, 2015
Great news! The Grove and Friends, a school community working with the help of the community at Hawthorne School, both in Toronto, have so far raised over $31,000! They will have their first sponsorship meeting tomorrow to begin work on their settlement plan.
September 16, 2015
We launched a set of new online resources for the 1000 Schools Challenge, including a how-to guide for organizing with lots of useful links and contacts. We also identified a hashtag — #1000kSchools4Refugees — please, help us get the word out on social media! We’ve heard from 10 schools so far that are thinking about doing a sponsorship. Are you interested? Do you know other schools we should connect with?
September 14, 2015
The Dewson School Community Refugees Welcome launches their sponsorship campaign and challenge with media release and press conference. Can the Dewson School Community Refugees Welcome raise $30,000 in 30 days - and will 1000 schools start the process to sponsor refugee families?
For more information, please take a look at the media release here and click here or on photo to view news story.
September 11, 2015
The Dewson School community launches their campaign to sponsor a refugee family. The school has about 400 families and 30 staff. Within 36 hours, 298 families responded to a survey about refugee sponsorship. 83% of families said they wanted our school to sponsor a refugee. Almost all of them said they would like to make a financial contribution, and almost a third were interested in becoming involved in the process, from fundraising, to work on the application process, to providing concrete support in the settlement process from finding housing, training and work opportunities to helping the family get settled.