“Gleams of Hope” Art Auction Fundraiser
Sponsoring a Syrian-Palestinian Refugee Family
Sunday, December 7th, 2025 at 2 pm
St. Philip Anglican Church
This refugee sponsorship is an inter-faith collaboration working with the support of Victoria’s downtown synagogue Congregation Emanu-El and Christ Church Cathedral. Known as “Gleams of Hope”, the sponsor team began as an informal gathering of Muslim and Jewish people coming together to seek peace and dialogue following the start of the Gaza war. Many at St. Philip will remember meeting Robert Oppenheimer, Dahlia Beck and May Shihadeh when they came to present to the 9:30 service on several occasions.
We are seeking donations of high quality art objects (mostly paintings, but also accepting other media such as small sculptures or jewelry) for the silent auction. Ideally, we are hoping for donations of 35-40 artworks that will bring in bids of an average of at least $300 each.
The sponsorship group needs to raise an additional $10,000 to reach the minimum amount for the family’s support required by the government and the Inter-Cultural Association. The deadline was originally Dec.1 but was extended to Feb. 1. We are hoping the sales from this event and associated donations will allow us to reach this amount before the end of this year.
Please consider either donating a piece of art or a gift of money to help “Gleams of Hope” over the finish line so the family’s application can proceed. While donations of money are eligible for charitable tax receipts, unfortunately donations and purchases of art will not be eligible. (The CRA requires a professional independent appraisers’ certification of market value.)
If you are interested in helping with the auction preparation or on the day, our Sponsorship Team includes Muslims, Christians, and Jews as well as unaffiliated participants and we welcome people from any background to join us in this "big tent" effort.
Please contact Dave Conway either at church or by email (zdconway@shaw.ca) for more details about donating an artwork or helping out in another way.
The Refugee Family
R. is a Syrian-Palestinian widow currently living with her two teenage daughters as refugees in a "third country" where they are very vulnerable and at risk. To make things worse, R. was diagnosed with cancer this summer, and is now undergoing treatment paid for entirely by separate private donations not eligible for charitable status in Canada.
More details about their story can be found in the PDF linked below.
We have the support and resources of both Congregation Emanu-El and Christ Church Cathedral to help us to offer tax-deductible donations. Donations can also be made directly through the ICA (the Inter-Cultural Association here in Victoria) by choosing the code for this sponsorship group. Please follow this link to the church website for links and instructions: CLICK HERE
Photo by Derick McKinney on Unsplash