Saint John church holds furniture drive to help new Syrian refugee families

After putting out the call for more donations, the Lancaster Baptist Church in Saint John received an overwhelming amount of support Saturday.

Pastor Wayne Murphy said the supply from previous furniture drop-offs had dwindled after the church had provided furniture to 20 Syrian refugee families.

So an urgent call for help went out to the city.  

"We knew that they want to get families out of the hotel and into apartments. And in order to do that, they're going to have to have something to sit on and eat with and all those sorts of things. So we needed to have things and so we put the call out," said Murphy.

Sue Davis was one of many who responded with her donation.

"I think that every one of us can make a difference...and it doesn't have to be a big thing," Davis said.

Ray Seaward agreed and made a donation of something that had special meaning to him.

"The table we donated was our first table that Kim and I bought when we bought our first house, so hopefully it comes in handy for new families that come to Canada as well."

Murphy says they still need donations of dressers, pots and pans, and other household items.

He expects there will be more furniture drives over the next few weeks to help the Syrian refugees still expected to settle in the area.