In light of what’s currently going on in America, this story about a Canadian business man is a good reminder of how great it feels to be in a more welcoming climate.
Jim Estill, CEO of Danby, a large appliance company based in Guelph, Canada, was watching the news about Syria in the summer of 2015 when he realized that he wanted to do something.
“It was the buildup of media that I saw—that Syria was in deep trouble, and people were drowning to try to get away from the peril,” he says. “I had once heard a rabbi speak in New York who said that part of the problem with the Holocaust is that people stood by and did nothing. I did not want to be a person who stood by.”
Not only did Estill spend a million dollars to sponsor fifty Syrian familes, but he helped create a volunteer organization to help new arrivals with every part of their lives in Guelph, from making doctor’s appointments to how to ride the bus. “The government could issue you a bus pass, but if you don’t speak the language and you don’t know the geography, that’s daunting,” he says. “You want someone to ride the bus with you.”
Read the whole story here.
