VIVE’s cup runneth over at Freedom Bowl event
Foundation presents $275,000 check
Sayyid Fedulla says he knows something about the importance of VIVE, the country’s largest refugee shelter located on Buffalo’s East Side, that often goes unnoticed by locals.
The Kenyan, his wife and their eight children came here before resettling in Toronto after he ran for a municipal seat in his country and had his life threatened by political opponents.
“VIVE is the most important thing for people around the world who are refugees, not only in Kenya,” Fedulla said.
It’s certainly one of the most important, said Brian Brown-Cashdollar, the organization’s executive director.
“VIVE is the only organization whose primary focus is to help refugees as they begin the process of seeking asylum. These are the refugees who are only days or weeks from the conflict zone. That’s what we do, and no one else does it,” he said.
VIVE’s ability to do that got a little easier at Sunday’s Freedom Bowl fundraiser at Canisius College’s Student Center, where refugees from several countries, including Chad, Uganda, El Salvador, Tibet and Ethiopia, prepared and served their native cuisine.
Raymond Bissonette, president of the Rev. A. Joseph Bissonette Memorial Foundation, presented VIVE a check for $275,000, the largest donation it has ever received.
The foundation has been a supporter of VIVE for 22 of the organization’s 25 years. It perpetuates the legacy of the late Rev. A. Joseph Bissonette, who was killed in 1987.
“It was a very big issue for Joe, the care and well-being of people escaping oppression anywhere, locally or worldwide,” Raymond Bissonette said.
“I thought if Joe had some money, what would he do with it? And I thought, that’s where it’s going to go.
“I hope it can enhance VIVE’s work, and perhaps improve it, and make life a little better for the people who are trying to get away from the bad guys.”
Last year, VIVE provided nearly 4,000 refugees 120,000 meals at its 112-bed site at 50 Wyoming Ave. It also offers clothing and legal assistance.
The dire circumstances of the refugees was a stark reminder of why VIVE exists.
One, journalist Selicien Cshimanga, who also taught at the U. S. Embassy, was forced to leave his wife and eight children in Congo after being accused of being an American spy and having his life threatened.
Cshimanga is hoping to resettle in French-speaking Canada and be reunited with his family, but is anxious about his prospects for finding work soon.
“It is really sad for me to live without my family, and without a job, which is a big problem. They are avoiding harm there, and I have to send money.”
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