It has been confirmed a family of 13 Syrian refugees will be making Swift Current their new home in early 2016.

The Swift Current and Area Ministerial Refugee Committee, made up of local churches, in coordination with MCC and the Salvation Army will be aiding the transition.

The family is made up of 13 members; two grandparents, two parents and their 9 children aged 3-17. The committee hopes for a February or March arrival.

"Almost all the churches in town are collecting for this particular project, we have a fair bit of money aside already but if people want to give, go to their church and say I want to give to the ministerial refugee," says Joell Haugan, pastor at Community Baptist Church and involved in the committee.

Haugan says the federal government will provide the first six months of financing for the family, which will cover things such as rent and groceries. From that point on, all local support will be relied on to help the family.

"The ministerial wanted to work together on this particular initiative, to pull resources within all the churches in town, I suggested that we make a committee up for it," Haugan tells SwiftCurrentOnline. "We got ahold of the MCC in Saskatoon, who are the sponsorship agreement holders. We asked for a medium sized family and they suggested one of 13 and we said yes so sometime in February we should be getting a family. Could be later than that but it could be as early as February. All we have are their names at this point."

As the MCC and Salvation Army will work alongside the committee, locals looking to help can simply donate what they can to either organization, according to Haugan.

The challenge now is finding appropriate accomodation for the family.  A rental house or something similar will be needed and must be wheelchair friendly as the grandmother is said to be handicapped.

Those who may be able to help can speak to officials in their local church. Updates and developments will also be posted on the committee's Facebook page.

Refugee Committee