(Article by Sydney Chisholm, Castanet Kamloops).   A take-home Colombo Lodge dinner to raise money for potential refugees has sold out.

Refugees and Friends Together — also known as RAFT — announced the fundraiser has sold each of its 300 tickets. According to the organizers, the 300 tickets is equivalent to 600 meals.

Nancy Bepple, chair of the RAFT board of directors, said the Kamloops community has been very supportive.

“RAFT has been flooded with offers to help,” Bepple said in a statement. “We really see a strong interest from our community in bringing refugees to the Kamloops area.”

RAFT said it intends to start the sponsorship process for settling a Ukrainian family in Kamloops starting next month.

The Canadian government controls which refugees get permission to come into the country, RAFT said, adding that it will be supporting the family whether they come from Ukraine or Afghanistan or somewhere else.

Those who bought tickets for the take home dinner fundraiser can pick up their meals at the Colombo Lodge, 814 Lorne St., on Wednesday between 11:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.        (Article by Sydney Chisholm, Castanet Kamloops).

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RAFT (Refugees And Friends Together) is a ministry of Kamloops United Church. Sponsoring refugees is a cause we are very passionate about and are hoping you can help support the work that we are doing. We are currently collecting donations to sponsor a refugee family from Afghanistan (or other countries) to come to Kamloops in 2022.  We need $30,000 in the bank before we can start the sponsorship process.

We are hosting a fundraising dinner!

Please join us and mark your calendars for Wednesday, March 16^th. We are hosting a Take-Out Dinner prepared by the Colombo Lodge and Italian Cultural Center. Enjoy a delicious home-cooked Italian dinner. The meal will be pasta with a vegetarian tomato sauce served alongside a generous portion of roast chicken. The meals can be picked up at the Colombo Lodge between 11:30 am and 6:00 pm

Purchase your tickets in advance online: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/colombo-cares-take-home-dinner-march-16-2022-tickets-273915286997?aff=erelexpmlt or call the Colombo Lodge at 250.374.4914 to purchase by phone.