Members of Toronto’s cryptocurrency community are banding together for the Merry Merkle initiative to raise $5,000 for a Syrian refugee family that just arrived to Canada.
The family arrived in Canada in December as part of the government’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program. The father was a soccer coach, and the mother is a gym teacher and former beautician. They have two sons aged 20 and 12; the older son was in IT school, and the younger in grade 7.
Since the initiative is not a registered charity, its fundraising efforts are also being sponsored through the private sponsorship program. The money will go towards helping the family build their life in Canada, including learning English, school expenses, and driver’s license costs.
“A small gift can help a family get started on a new life in a new country,” said Josh Stark, co-founder of L4V Ventures who co-organized the fundraiser. “We are calling on the blockchain community to help out a family in need this holiday season.”
This fundraiser is a followup to a recent charity event launched by members of L4, Blockgeeks, Truebit, and the University of Toronto, which raised money for Covenant House Toronto. The event’s goal was to raise $25,000, but gathered global attention and has raised $100,000 to date. Funds raised to date will provide about 100 youth with food for three months, and organizers are hoping to raise between $150,000 to $200,000 CAD.
The fundraiser for the family will be hosted until the end of January, and only accepts Ether or ECR20 tokens. Donations can be made on the official website here.