Providing help to Syrian refugees is as easy as clicking a mouse, thanks to a new web-based app created by a Londoner.
Share Humanity has designed an app that allows Canadians a quick and easy way to offer financial assistance, housing, or work to refugees resettling in Canada.
Organization president and app creator, Rehan Basson of London, designed the web-based support tool with seven other members of the group.
"We thought, what can we do given the current crisis, what sort of means do we have from a distance and between a few different ideas it all kind of amalgamated into where it is headed now?" says Basson. "We have already had a lot of interest. Pledges of financial assistance. We had one big pledge of someone offering their entire farm for a period of a year in Alberta. So we are definitely getting some attention."
The federal government has promised to take in 25,000 refugees by the end of February through its resettlement program.
Those interested in giving to Syrian refugees can do so by going to sharehumanity.org and making a pledge. Share Humanity then matches the pledge with an agency that can put the pledge to good use, connecting it to a refugee almost immediately.
"It's a fantastic way to connect people who want to help and connecting these refugees who are obviously subject to very difficult circumstances and seeing them connected with Canadian generosity," says Basson.