Outreach Committee
Our Outreach Committee has several campaigns and projects throughout the calendar year including regular donations to the food bank, Socks for the Homeless in winter time, an annual Family Dance refugee fundraiser, Hearts for Refugees, and more!
We also regularly volunteer for Meals on Wheels!
Local
Each of these Community Organizations are from Saskatoon or are in Saskatchewan.
We financially support these organizations every year and also gather supplies to donate. Click on one of these photos to learn more about the organization!
Quilters - May 2026
Our fabulous quilters meet every Thursday afternoon starting in September until June to create these beautiful pieces of practical art! These quilts are taken to several long term care facilities and non-profit organizations throughout the city, including Haven House.
Global
Refugees - Outreach Subcommittee
AGM Report 2025
In October 2025, we welcomed the Ebrahimi family of five from Iran (they are originally from Afghanistan). The family faced a significant wait in coming to Saskatoon, as we initiated the sponsorship in 2019, prior to COVID. It was a beautiful gift seeing the family arrive at the Saskatoon airport, to be greeted by five or six carloads of family and people from the local Afghan community! The family was very excited to arrive in Canada and begin this new stage of their lives. They are tremendously grateful for the support they have received from the McClure congregation.
While living with local relatives for a few weeks, they found a new home and are slowly acclimatizing to life in Canada. The father, Mohammad, has begun work as a mechanic, and the whole family are working on improving their English. Thank you to many people from the McClure community who have kindly donated beds, furniture, household items and their time for English tutoring, to assist the family with their transition to Canada. We really appreciate your support! We have also received some updates from families we’ve assisted in the recent past. Mengsteab arrived in Canada from Israel (originally from Eritrea) in September 2018. He has since moved to Calgary, gotten married, and they have welcomed two children. Gebremeskel arrived in Canada from Israel (also originally from Eritrea) in September 2016. He went to Sudan in 2017 to marry his wife Semhar and was able to bring her to Canada in 2019. Gebremeskel and Semhar are still happily living in Saskatoon with their children, Naher and Natan. Gebremeskel works at the Royal University Hospital as an environmental services worker.
To quote Gebremeskel, with respect to the McClure community: “You did the best thing in my life. I appreciate your support, hard work and kindness.”
Past Year Highlights
Quilters in June 2025
Refugee Committee AGM Report for 2024
In April 2024, we welcomed a family to Saskatoon jointly with St. Martin’s United Church. The Dakouri family of six arrived in Saskatoon (originally from Syria) in early April 2024, after having tentative travel plans delayed multiple times, starting in October 2023. They were very excited to start a new life in Canada after a very time-consuming process, and great effort has been put into preparing a new home for them. They are slowly adapting to life in Canada, and made a visit to McClure to thank the congregation in November 2024. Due to the family’s delayed arrival, St. Martin’s invested significant financial resources into a home that went unoccupied for months. To raise additional funds, St. Martin’s and McClure organized a series of fundraising initiatives including a silent auction, spring concert and a public talk about synchrotron science.
We currently have a sponsorship application with the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) office for appraisal. Our sponsorship application for a family of five from Afghanistan (who are currently living in Iran) was processed by the United Church Refugee Office (UCRO) and submitted to the IRCC office for appraisal as of November 2020. Given the amount of time that has passed, we are very hopeful this family may arrive in 2025.
We had a second sponsorship for a family of five from Syria (who are currently living in Lebanon), and their paperwork was processed by the UCRO and submitted to the IRCC for appraisal in October 2023. However, local family in Saskatoon have suggested that this family now intends to re-settle in Syria, and we are working with the UCRO to confirm the official status of this sponsorship application.
The Refugee Committee would strongly encourage people interested in our work, or who might be interested in joining, to contact us (please email Joel at joelwreid@gmail.com).