Your holiday charitable donation can support refugees during the festive season and beyond

During the holiday season, many displaced people worldwide are without the basics they need to survive.

At this time of year there are many ways you can help refugees and displaced people all over the world.

While many Canadians share the joys of the holidays with loved ones, for millions of displaced people worldwide there will be little to celebrate. Forced to flee their homes, many displaced people lack access to basics like a safe place to sleep, access to vaccines and food. Here are ways you can help this holiday season:

Give with meaning: A heartfelt gift for your loved one which helps refugees

Are you looking for some creative holiday donation ideas? Look no further than UNHCR’s online gift shop. This is the gift that keeps on giving because, with every purchase, you will be supporting families and people living in difficult conditions.

Here is what your gift could provide:

$15 will give the gift of warmth with a new winter jacket

$60 could help reunite a family who has been separated when they were forced to flee

$70 could stop the damaging effects of malnutrition by providing nutrition supplements for 100 infants for six months.

$100 could immunize a child from preventable diseases

$400 could give an entire family a winterization kit containing: warm clothing, blankets, sleeping mats, tarps, a stove and fuel vouchers.

Every charitable donation from our online shop during the holidays comes with a personalized e-card that you can send directly to your loved one or you can print your card at home and give to your family and friends.

Avoid the crowds this year and give your parent, sibling, friend, supportive loved one or your Secret Santa the gift that helps forcibly displaced people worldwide.

Visit the UNHCR Shop today.

Donate to our winter appeal and give the gift of hope

Every year the arrival of winter brings a fresh set of challenges for millions of displaced people. For many in Syria or refugees living in the surrounding countries such as Lebanon,  Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, this is their 11^th consecutive winter away from home, facing subzero temperatures, flooding, freezing rains and storms.

Over three million people are in desperate need of winter assistance. This year UNHCR is working to provide winter cash assistance to families who are struggling to keep warm during the coldest months of the year. The family can choose how best to spend their cash assistance, whether it is paying for rent, buying warm clothing for their children or paying for fuel to heat their homes. But to reach people with cash assistance, we need your help.

How your donation to our winter appeal can help:

$98 can help a Syrian refugee living in Egypt afford food and other essentials.

$114 can help a Syrian refugee living in Iraq to pay for winter essentials like warm clothes and a winter jacket

$228 can help provide winter cash assistance to two Syrian refugees living in Jordan.

$350 can help a Syrian refugee family living in Lebanon pay for rent, heaters, thermal blankets and warm winter clothing for their family.

Donate this holiday season and help displaced people worldwide.

Abu’s Story

Abu, along with his wife and five children, fled from Syria as the civil war tore through their homeland. They arrived at the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan in 2013.

“When we first came, we lived in tents,” Abu says. “It was extremely hard on us. It used to rain on us inside, in addition to the snow and the cold. When the winter starts, we are always in fear… This year will be more difficult than other years. There isn’t any work. If the [UNHCR] assistance will stop, it would be catastrophic.”

Abu and his family are now living in a caravan shelter with a gas stove for cooking and heating. Donate today to provide cash assistance for families like Abu’s.

Get inspired by recipes from refugees in Canada

Would you like to prepare something new for your festive feast? Why not try some of the recipes from our free e-cookbook, “Tastes from Home: Recipes from the Refugee Community.” Released to mark the 70^th anniversary of UNHCR, this cookbook is filled with over 100 pages of beautiful recipes, stories and photos each shared by a resilient individual who has been forced to flee their homeland.

Support refugees by downloading your copy now.

“Tastes from Home” is a collection of recipes celebrating the perseverance, resilience and traditions of 14 former refugees who now call Canada their home. For a sweet treat you could try making Zekrah’s Honey Cake from Yemen or you could give Aya’s Ma’amoui cookies as gifts or surprise your family with one of Anuarite’s savoury dishes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Here is your chance to share in the rich cultural backgrounds and traditions of former refugees through dishes that are close to their hearts.